For Truth HIATUS
by Feilyn
Summary: Best friend? Crazy. Love life? Dead. James Potter? Unfortunately, alive. Lily's sixth year at school has not got off to a good start. But war's a brewing and Lily doesn't have time to be angsting because she's about to be thrown right into the middle...
1. Prologue

_Welcome to the first chapter of this monster I like to call 'For Truth'. Probably there will be a number of you who choose not to go on past chapter one, but for those of you who like it enough to stay with me, yay! New reader-gods! And thank you!_

_This fic should be totally in canon, except in spots where JKR has forgotten some detail and contradicted herself. There is a rather large event which had been in sixth year until DH came out and it was suddenly in fifth year. For plot purposes, it will be remaining in sixth year. If I do get anything totally wrong though, please let me know!_

_Anyway, now the introduction is all done, let's get started! _

Welcome_…_

_To For Truth._

_.:Prologue:._

Lily moaned, her breath coming in short breaths as she collapsed to the ground. She wasn't sure where she was or how she had got there, but she knew she was away from it all.

_Oh God…ohgodohgodohgodohgod._

"_Libby!_" she screamed into the night air, hands clenching in the dirt and gravel. Or, at least, she had meant to scream. Instead it came out as a kind of hoarse whisper – being strangled did that to a person.

Her eyes stung, except she couldn't cry, because she was all cried out and there were no more tears and _where the hell was she _and why had nobody come? Why was she all alone? Where was Libby, where was Libby, where was Libby_ Libby, Libby, Libby ohgodohgodoh_god.

"I know you're there," said a calm voice. "You'd best tell me who you are and what you're doing at Ambrosius before my husband gets here."

_Ambrosius? I'm at…at Ambrosius?_

Lily choked on a sighed of relief, scrambling towards the voice, ignoring the little tears the gravel was ripping in her skin. "Hope…"she rasped. "Hope...Potter?"

"Is that—?" Hurried steps forward and the sound of someone dropping to their knees. Lily looked up, but her vision had blurred so badly that, mixed with the dark of night, the only distinguishing feature she could pick out was a pair of deep brown eyes. "Merlin's Bones. Lily Evans?"

"Hope? I thought I felt the wards twinge. Is anyone there?" A masculine voice floated through the dark.

"Patil," Lily croaked. "Lib…Liberty Patil. D-Death Eaters. Dark – Dark Mark. Dead."

_Deaddeaddead everyone dead but Lily and Libby madmadmad ohgod, Lib…_

"Hope?"

A soft hand caressing her forehead and a murmured spell. Then a steady voice calling out into the night. "Get back to the house, Henry, and Floo the Aurors. There's been another attack."

_.:Prologue:._

_Right, so that is the revised prologue…Actually, the other version didn't have a prologue, but whatever. Old readers know what has happened already, but new readers, I beg of you, stay with me. It does get more in depth as it goes on, and more layered._


	2. Forever

_.:Forever:._

Remus Lupin stared at the article, hands clenching the newspaper so tightly his knuckles had turned white.

"Hey, Moony! What's wrong?" Sirius Black flopped down next to his friend, bouncing slightly on the leather couch.

"There's been another attack," Remus replied tersely, eyes scanning the content of the article. It wasn't spectacularly informative, but he had the sinking feeling he knew what had happened.

Sirius yanked the _Daily Prophet_ out of Remus' hands as James Potter, heir to Ambrosius, leapt over the side of the couch to perch on the back, followed by Peter Pettigrew sitting meekly on its arm.

"'Brutal attack brings hope – a _survivor?_'" Sirius read aloud, exclaiming the last word incredulously.

James nearly tipped backwards off the couch. "Someone actually survived?"

"Yeah. Says a Light-allied family was attacked, and a friend of the kid's escaped to – damn, Prongs, it says they came here!"

"_What?_"

Sirius read aloud. "'The young hero was found by Hope Potter outside the wards of Ambrosius, the Potter family's ancestral home. Henry Potter fetched the Aurors and lead them to the besieged house after the Hogwarts student managed to alert the Potter's while they were being healed by Mrs. Potter.'" He looked up. "Did you lot notice anything odd going on last night?"

"Nothing," Remus said quickly, echoed by the other two a beat later. He noticed Sirius shooting him an odd look as James left the room, saying something about talking to his parents, but the dog-Animagus didn't say anything. The werewolf sighed.

_Oh, Lily. _

Because Remus _had_ seen something. An unconscious, barely dressed Lily Evans something, to be precise, hanging limply in Hope Potter's arms. Mrs. Potter had made him promise not to mention it and Remus had been too bewildered to even think about why it would be necessary to agree, but did so anyway.

_And now I know._

_.:Forever:._

"_Eye of newt and toe of dog, broken hearts, a loveless snog, tears like rivers, cries of pain, you'll never fuck with me again!_" Dorcas Meadowes danced down the stairs, belting out the words to her new favourite song.

"Dorcas…" Her brother's warning voice drifted up to her. She ignored him, hopping on the banister and sliding the remaining distance as she started on the second verse.

Gaylord Meadowes caught her by the neck of her bath robe as she hit the ground. "You are not behaving in the manner of a proper Pureblood lady, Dorcas."

She stuck her tongue out at him and started on the chorus again.

His resulting backhand to her face sent her sprawling to the ground. "Mayhap that will teach you polite behaviour," he stated, sounding bored. "Now, your Hogwarts letter arrived today. You have somehow managed to bring honour to our family name by being chosen as the Head Girl. Do not fail us in this, Dorcas. You will be the very soul of courtesy and decorum and bring pride to our name, or we will hear of it. And the result, Dorcas, will not be pleasant." There was a clatter as he dropped something at her feet before sweeping up the stairs.

Dorcas glared at his retreating figure, reaching for the Head Girl badge.

"_You'll never fuck with me again,_" she whispered.

There was a 'pop' and her favourite house elf, Bippy, had materialised next to her.

"Miss Dorcas!" she squeaked. "Bippy is to inform Miss Dorcas that Miss Alice Whitburn is requesting permission to Floo into Meadowes Mansion, Bippy is. Miss Whitburn is saying that it is being of much importance, Miss Dorcas!"

Dorcas rubbed her cheek absently. "Which fireplace?"

"The kitchen, Miss Dorcas!"

"Take me there?" she asked.

"Is that being an order, Miss Dorcas?"

"Uh…yes, Bippy." _Gaylord, you bastard. There is such a thing as _asking_ a house elf to do something, but of course that isn't fitting for a Meadowes._

"Then Bippy is taking you there right now, Miss Dorcas!"

There was a rather disorientating lurch in the general order of things and then Dorcas was in the large kitchen of Meadowes Mansion, surrounded by bustling house elves begging to serve. She waved them away and strode over to the fireplace where the head of Alice Whitburn was floating.

"Come through, Alice," she said.

"Oh, thank Merlin. My knees are about to die."

Alice Whitburn was a rather unremarkable looking girl. Short of stature with straw blonde hair cropped to her chin for convenience and eyes of a pale, pale blue. However, she had gained a reputation as one of the most terrifying girls at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that one could tell was well-deserved as soon as she opened her mouth.

Alice Whitburn knew what she wanted and Merlin help anyone who stood in her way.

"We have a problem, Mother D," she said bluntly as soon as she stepped out of the fire.

"Is this problem so important that you couldn't send me an owl?" Dorcas enquired. "My brother's not exactly in the best of moods this morning."

Alice rolled her eyes. "I swear I'd punch that pansy of a man if I wasn't so afraid he'd die because of it. He's not worth going to Azkaban for."

"I'm so glad you think so," the sister of said pansy murmured. "Now, this problem. How big is it, exactly?"

"Big? Mother D, big doesn't even come close to describing this problem. This is a hippogriff sized problem. No, a dragon sized problem! A hippogriff dragon sized problem with Voldemort thrown in for good measure!"

"V-voldemort?" Dorcas stuttered in surprise. She wasn't afraid to mention the name like some pathetic twats, but she _was_ taken aback. "What does that ridiculous excuse for a madman have to do with it?"

Alice sighed, shoving her fringe back off her forehead only to have it flop back down in exactly the same. "Didn't you read the _Prophet_ this morning?"

"I'd rather roll in dragon dung. At least then I'd be doing something productive, like pissing off Gaylord. What did the rumour rag have to say?"

"It didn't give names, but Death Eater's attacked Liberty's villa last night. Her parents were killed, she's insane and Lily was nearly strangled to death."

Dorcas stared. Then she started to laugh.

"Merlin, Alice, you don't think I'm going to fall for that, do you? You know, I'm almost ashamed to call you a Harlot—" She broke off. Alice wasn't laughing. In fact, she'd gone very, very white – impressive, considering her already pasty complexion – and her left eye was twitching.

"You – you're not joking?" Dorcas stuttered, uncertain for one of the first times in her life.

"This is not the kind of thing I would joke about, Dorcas." Alice said each word very carefully and precisely, and Dorcas knew she'd entered dangerous waters. Alice never used her first name. "Liberty's parents are dead. Liberty was tortured into insanity and Lily was forced to watch before they tried to strangle her to death because a simple AK just wasn't enough. Thank Merlin, because otherwise she wouldn't have made it out."

"Where is she?"

"My bed at the Rose Garden. Talyn's with her, which she will probably find infinitely more comforting then seeing my ugly mug if she snaps out of it and—"

"_If?_" Dorcas interrupted. "And snaps out of _what?_"

"She went into shock, Mother D and she's been staring at nothing since St Mungos brought her in. They thought a familiar place and people she trusts would help so Hope Potter suggested the Rose Garden. So Lily's in my bed with a Healer hovering over her and Talyn sitting calmly in the corner."

Talyn Parkinson was someone that Dorcas had grown up with, what with both of them coming from Dark Pureblood families, but after all this time Dorcas could honestly say she knew next to nothing about the girl except that she spent most of her time glued silently to Lily's side and as a result had been disowned from her family. Well, it went a little more in depth than that.

The Rose Graden was the ancestral Whitburn manor, and weren't they lucky? Having a placed named the Rose Garden was so much better than Meadowes Mansion. Although, Meadowes Mansion was better than Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. _Poor Sirius._

Dorcas shook her head, reorganising her thoughts. "What does Hope Potter have to do with this?"

"Lily turned up at Ambrosius last night. Literally on the edge of death. As far as the Healer's been able to determine, the attempted strangling may have actually saved her life. She lost complete control of her magic like she did in third year, snapped the Trace in half and Apparated the hell out of there."

"To Ambrosius?"

"Yeah. Why there of all places I've no idea. Hope says that Remus was the only one who saw Lily, though, and she swore him to secrecy so we don't have to worry about James Potter blathering about it when we get back to Hogwarts."

"Right. So, was that the problem or is there something specific you require me for?"

"Well, James Potter is thicker than pig shit when it comes to things other than pranks and Transfiguration so we don't need to worry about him, but there are people at Hogwarts who _were_ blessed with enough intelligence to fill a thimble who could probably piece two and two together and come up with war, if you get my meaning. Severus Snape for example. Slimy git that he is, he _was_ Lily's friend for a very long time and he's smarter than the average bear. So I was thinking that you would do the seducing thing, I would do the threatening thing and Talyn would do the 'eerily-silent-totally-unassuming-utterly-terrifying' bodyguard thing. Between the three of us we should be able to, if not keep people from figuring it out, keep Lily from knowing they've figured it out."

"The 'I will kick your balls so far inside your body that you ghost will be singing soprano' threat?" Dorcas enquired. "And, ew! I'm not seducing Snivellus!"

"No, I've got a new one. You'll find out when Potter tries manhandling Lily on the Express. As for Snape, we'll leave him to Talyn. She scares him more than a decent shower."

Gaylord's personal house elf, ears drooping and shoulders hunched, interrupted, shuffling slowly towards them

"Dappy is to be informing Miss Dorcas that Master Gaylord is requesting Miss Dorcas' presence immediately in Master Gaylord's study," the poor thing recited in monotone. Difficult to do, when one's vocal cords are inclined to be squeaky and chirpy. "Dappy is also to be telling Miss Whitburn that she is warmly received and to say that, although she is being most welcome in the Meadowes Mansion, Master Gaylord is afraid he must be politely requesting her to depart."

Dorcas rolled her eyes at Alice, who was staring in pity at Dappy's attempts to work his way around Gaylord's instructions.

"Well, the master of the mansion calls, my dear. I must away. Um…" She dropped the act, letting the worry and fear show on her face. "Give Lily my love, yeah?"

"I will. Let Gaylord know I hate him as much as I ever did. 'Warmly received', my arse. I'm in the freaking kitchen because it's the only place your freak of a brother doesn't regularly haunt." She bounced up on her toes and dropped a kiss on Dorcas' cheek. "See you later, Mother D."

_.:Forever:._

Snape's hands were shaking so badly he dropped the paper.

_Two dead…names surpressed…parents, child, friend…_

"Lily," he croaked hoarsely.

_And she went to _Potter's_ of all places? That bastard's probably hovering over her bedside like a vulture ready to swoop down on it's dying prey._

Snape could predict what would happen next. Either Potter would convince Lily that he really _was_ the best thing since broomsticks were invented or he wouldn't and would tell everyone what had happened.

And either way, Lily's life would be ruined.

"_Boy?_ Where are you, boy? You better not be reading that god damned newspaper again! Devil's work, it is! _Boy!_ You'd better get your arse here now before I beat it black and blue!"

Snape shot a sneer in the general direction of his father's voice, rolled up the newspaper and ran the opposite way towards the small park that held so many memories. He'd brood there.

_.:Forever:._

Talyn sat serenely with Lily, her arms around the shaking girl, stroking her vibrant hair. The Healer was standing over the both of them, hand gently tipping Lily's head up as she looked through her green eyes into her, mind, trying to sort through the blankness there.

Finally the Healer dropped her hand and stood back. "It's no use, I'm afraid. I've never seen a young Occlumens so skilled. I could break through her defences if I wanted to, but that would do her more harm than good."

"Madam McKinnon," Talyn murmured, brushing a curl of jet back off her forehead.

"Excuse me, dear?" The Healer didn't appear to be very comfortable around Talyn. The raven-haired teen could not quite understand why so many people were so antsy around her. It was like silence made them nervous, but what was the point in saying something just for the sake of saying something?

"The Hogwarts medi-witch."

"What about her, dear?"

Talyn didn't really like the way the Healer was calling her dear like she knew her. This _may_ have made her draw out the silence a little longer.

"Lily likes her."

The Healer waited, clearly exasperated. She did not, however, call Talyn dear so the girl decided to relent.

"She may be able to help. Lily doesn't tend to be fond of strangers. Particularly not ones invading her mind."

The Healer flushed slightly. Talyn found this a little odd, but merely shrugged it off, tucking another errant curl behind her ear and returning to Lily and the silence.

"How is she?"

Talyn turned away from Lily to face Alice, who had just entered the room and looked ready to murder. "Cold."

The Healer looked up from where she was writing notes. "Ah – Miss Parkinson, Miss Whitburn, that is adrenaline, not the temperature, that is making her shake."

Talyn shrugged elegantly. "Then she is adrenalised. And my name is Talyn. Not Miss Parkinson."

The Healer looked pained, but Alice's mouth had quirked up at the corner in an almost-smile so Talyn didn't really care. She probably wouldn't have cared either way, but the almost-smile was a nice bonus. Particularly when it had formed from the murder-glare.

"Dorcas had no idea. She doesn't read the _Prophet_ on principle, so she didn't even see the 'young hero' article." Alice sighed, sitting down on the corner of her bed and flipping her fringe out of the way. "Could Dumbledore not have done more to stop that article? All you'd have to know is that Lily went to Liberty's and then anyone with half a brain could figure it out."

Talyn blinked softly.

"Oh, and I could _kill_ that son of a bitch Gaylord. Dorcas had a bright red mark on her cheek that _obviously_ came from a hand and the poor house elf Dappy…how many times has he made the thing iron its hands, I wonder?"

"He hit her?"

"Hard. She kept on rubbing it, although I don't think she realised it. It probably still stings."

The Healer had been on her way out of the room, presumably to find a fireplace to Floo Hogwarts but upon hearing the girls' conversation, she stopped halfway through the door.

"Gaylord Meadowes?" she asked curiously. "He hit his sister?"

"Not for the first time," Alice replied.

"Why, that's monstrous! Why hasn't anything been done? Don't tell me you girls are too afraid to speak up, you know there are procedures for that sort of thing!"

She noticed then that both teenagers were staring at her. Talyn had a rather cynical smile playing about her lips and then Alice burst into laughter.

"I'm sorry? Interfere in the way Gaylord Meadowes, Order of Merlin First Class, disciplines his sole heir? And a pair of teenagers as his accusers? We wouldn't even be laughed out, the Ministry would be so shocked."

"Child abuse—"

"Is a big problem, yeah. But Gaylord's young and there are plenty of young women out there for him to marry and then rape repeatedly so that she'll spawn him an exact replica of himself. Dorcas is unlikely to remain the heir for long, therefore the Ministry would have no need to get on her good side."

"But that's—"

"Horrific," Talyn said quietly. "Quite. Unless Dorcas unheiralises herself now so that Gaylord cannot touch her, she is stuck with him."

This time, even Alice winced. "Talyn, I think the term you're looking for is 'disowns'."

"I know," the other girl replied simply.

The Healer looked on as Talyn and Alice promptly forgot about her, turning back to Lily who had stopped shaking. Alice moved closer and Talyn shifted until the three girls where entangled in a group hug.

The Healer left to look for a fireplace.

"Hey, Talyn," Alice whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think our lives have just changed forever?"

Silence. Then—

"Yes."

_.:Forever:._

_Right, so that's chapter one. I hope you liked!_

_And I love Dorcas. She is actually one of my favourite characters._

_Next chapter: Lily speaks! Somewhat sanely and comprehensibly!_


	3. Tiger, Tiger

Lily was trapped inside of her own mind.

She knew this. Vaguely, a tiny part of her was running through the thick mist screaming at the rest of her, but it was so much _easier_ in the mist. To be able to stare at nothing, think of nothing, escaping from everything was a bliss she'd never experienced before and not something she was going to give up very easily.

Something nudged at her mind; an unidentified presence, some unknown _thing_ trying to draw her out. She stared at it for a few seconds, then slipped away through the mist. If it couldn't communicate with her, it wasn't worth bothering with.

This was _her_ mind, _her_ domain. There would be no finding her here. The presence tried again and again, but Lily was too busy non-thinking to notice. Eventually, it disappeared and she was left to her non-thoughts.

But nothing lasts forever, and Lily's peace seemed to be the nothing first on the list. Something she imagined as a hand reached in and grabbed her mind by the ear.

_:Now, Miss Evans, there are two ways we can do this. Either you stop this nonsense now and wake up out of this ridiculous fog, or you can stay here and I'll just have to drag you out.:_

The presence had a distinct overtone of Madam McKinnon, the Hogwarts medi-witch, so Lily felt free to be as bratty as she liked. Madam McKinnon had, after all, seen it all before.

_:No! It _hurts_ out there and I'm not really in the mood for more pain.:_

Hesitation. The pressure on her mind-ear dropped slighty. _:More pain?:_

_:Something happened. I don't want to remember. If you pull me out now, I'll have to remember, and I don't have the energy to deal with that now.:_

Something tugged at her near drained magical core and Lily screamed at the phantom pain.

_:Oh – Merlin's Bones, girl, you've had another limit break! Stay here.:_

And then Lily was alone in her mind once again, wondering where on earth the medi-witch thought she'd be going.

_.:Tiger, Tiger:._

Alice watched, caught midway between worry for Lily and general amusement as Madam McKinnon fixed the Healer (whose name she still couldn't remember) with a steely glare.

"How long have you been a qualified Healer for?" Madam McKinnon enquired.

"Six years!" the Healer replied, clearly affronted at being questioned in such a tone of voice by an inferior.

"I see." The medi-witch turned to Talyn. "My dear girl, do you still wish to be a Healer?"

Talyn blinked, then nodded her assent.

"Right. Attend closely then. Upon seeing Miss Evans here, what would you do?"

"As she is, or as she was?"

"_Very_ good, Talyn. As Healer McLaggen would have come across her, please."

"I would check for a limit break."

"Excellent, my dear. Got it in one." Madam McKinnon smiled at the suddenly blushing Talyn.

"That's ridiculous, she's too young to limit break," Healer McLaggen protested. "There was a foreign spell residue on her magical core and she's showing all the signs of a person in shock. I know what I'm talking about."

"You don't," Talyn murmured softly, but offered no explanation.

"Lily had a limit break when she turned fourteen. Nearly destroyed the Gryffindor Tower. Surely your brother…whasisname, Conner? Yeah, he would have told you, he was dating Lily at the time." Alice folded her arms and glared.

"Just before."

"Eh?" Alice turned to stare at Talyn.

"In the seconds before she turned fourteen. Eleven-thirty-one at night."

"I'm not even going to ask how you knew that."

"She's _that_ Lily Evans?" Healer McLaggen blurted.

"Well, that would depend on what you mean by _that_ Lily Evans," Madam McKinnon asked suspiciously. She was protective of all her students, but Lily Evans more than most.

"Lily Evans, the Muggleborn? She's a total anomaly – a limit break at fourteen, attracted all sorts of unknown entities and Healers still haven't been able to figure out exactly what caused it. She's a magical disaster!"

"You don't need to tell _us_ that," Alice growled. "We've been there the whole way through."

_.:Tiger, Tiger:._

Dorcas started singing in Latin as she went to meet her brother. A bawdy tavern song was her tune of choice, taught to her by Black. Black, who spoke the language fluently and yet only knew songs fit to make a sailor blush. Dorcas, of course, was not a sailor therefore her face was red free.

Well, barring the faint mark in the vague shape of a hand on her cheek. But she was about to solve that problem once and for all.

Dorcas tipped her voice upwards, enunciating the words and making up an impromptu tune that totally contrasted the words. Pleasant sounding songs annoyed Master Gaylord almost as much as rude ones. Mix 'em together and...well.

"Miss Dorcas, Bippy is begging you not to be singing too loudly. Master Gaylord is not liking the sound and – no, bad Bippy, bad Bippy!" The house elf started punching herself in the nose. Dorcas broke off her song and attended to her favourite elf, assuring her that no harm was done by telling the truth.

Bippy was right though. Gaylord hated to hear her sing, because it was a mark of what a complete disappointment she was. The first Meadowes born in centuries with so strong a Singing Talent – every Meadowes had it to some degree – and she was totally wild. The only Dark Pureblood she'd ever been introduced to and gotten along with was Sirius Black, and he was even worse than she was. Then she'd started Hogwarts and had destroyed any reputation as a proper heir within days. Instead of using keeping miraculous voice a secret and using it to cloud the minds of various heirs and subtly influence them, she'd immediately showcased her talent in singing the school song in Dumbledore's voice. Of course, her perfect rendition of 'Mein Heir' in her third year totally clinched it, and most Pureblood families immediately cut ties with the Meadowes family for fear she would control them. And about to start her seventh year at Hogwarts, Dorcas' promiscuity was legend and her own private little organisation, the Hogwarts Harlots, squished snotty Purebloods with superiority complexes like the bugs they were. This had all but ruined her chances at a fortuitous marriage, which had really been the general idea. Other than pissing Gaylord off, which was kind of fun too. Except when he hit her.

Bippy disappeared with a squeak as Dorcas barged into her brother's study, not bothering to knock.

"Oh, Master of Meadowes Mansion, how may I serve thee?" she trilled. "Your face looks like venison and you smell like a…tree?" She blinked, disappointed at the total failure of her rhyme.

Gaylord was not amused. He flicked a mild pain curse in her direction, but she dodged it. She'd wait for the big 'un before she unleashed…well herself, really.

"Brother mine, brother mine, you hurt me so. Except that you don't, because you missed."

His left eye twitched, but other than that he kept his face remarkably blank. "Sit."

"No, I'm quite comfortable here, thanks all the same. That manacle trick will only work once you know." Dorcas folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "So. What fascinating dilemma to do with my total failure as a person are you going to present me with today, Gaylord?"

"Orion Black, being one of the Hogwarts governors, has been aware of your appointment to Head Girl ever since the decision was made. He has decided that, should you prove yourself adept at your duties this school year, he is willing to enter negotiations with our family and draw up a marriage contract between yourself and his heir Sirius. Black seems to think that your new position will temper your…flightiness, and that once you have calmed down you will be a good influence on his son. Personally, I do not care for the boy, but he is a Black. With Lucius Malfoy married this spring it's the best you could hope for. Better, considering your reputation. I did, of course, assure Black it was utterly false." Gaylord inclined his head. "Well done."

_That there would be the big 'un._

"I'm sorry?" she whispered, feeling like she'd been punched in the gut. "I have come top of my year ever since I started Hogwarts. I have won prize after prize, knocked people from their brooms at impossible angles in Quidditch games you never even bothered to show up for and in the past year _three_ of my articles have been published in _Young Merlin_, the single most prestigious young adult's magazine in existence and _now_ you give me a 'well done'? Because Sirius Black's bastard of a father thinks that I _might_ make his son a good wife? No, _you listen to me!_" she screamed as Gaylord opened his mouth. Her voice shattered the stained glass window behind him, showering him with coloured fragments. Lowering her voice to a hiss, she said, "I will _never_ marry Sirius Black."

Dorcas, shuddering with rage as she was, almost missed the twinge under her skin that meant Gaylord was playing with the Mansion's wards. In three quick strides she had reached his desk and leaned over him, heedless of the glass as she glared into those unfeeling sapphire blue eyes. Identical to hers.

"I am not just a girl with the Singing Talent," she breathed. "I am a Songstress. Your miniscule Talent will not protect you as well as you think if I choose to overwhelm you. Make no mistake, just because I _don't_ brainwash people into doing what I want doesn't mean I _can't_. If you ever – _ever_ – raise a hand or wand against me, I will take you over. If you ever make _any_ attempt to force me into being your puppet, you will become mine. _Do you understand me?_"

Something flashed behind his eyes as the wards drained back to their original positions. Anger, perhaps, or even fear. Dorcas couldn't find it in herself to care.

"I will inform Orion Black that his proposal is not desirable," he said, no sign of any emotion in his voice.

"So you do understand." She stood up straight. "Good. Now, leave me the hell alone."

Dorcas stalked out of the study, shutting the door quietly behind her – she wasn't so juvenile as to slam it – and then made her way blindly to the kitchen, where she waved the house elves off before slumping against a stone wall. The smell of freshly baked bread washed over her as she ran her hands through her hair, half singing a poem under her breath.

"_When the stars threw down their spears, and watered heaven with their tears: did he smile His work to see? Did he who made the lamb make thee?_" Dorcas laughed bitterly. "Whatever god you wished to be, father, I hope you're bloody smiling now." She grabbed a handful of Floo powder from the jar near the fire and threw it in. "_Ambrosius_," she called.

_I won't be your tiger. And I'm definitely not your lamb._

_.:Tiger, Tiger:._

"Dorcas Meadowes?" James blinked comically at the house elf. "But she hates me!"

"Miss Meadowes is telling Gimpy to be telling Master James that she is not being here to see him," Gimpy gushed. "Miss Meadowes is requesting to see Master Black."

Remus raised an eyebrow at Sirius, who frowned. "I – really? And it's Master Sirius, Gimpy, not Black."

"That is all Gimpy is knowing, Master Black." Gimpy was a stickler for the rules and as Sirius wasn't blood-family, the house elf didn't have to listen to him.

"What business does the Queen Harlot want with you, Pads?" Remus enquired.

Sirius jerked his head at Gimpy. "That is all Sirius is knowing, Master Lupin," he squeaked.

"That was an abysmal imitation of a house elf," Remus pointed out. Sirius shrugged easily and hauled himself to his feet.

"Well, I'd best go see what Mother D wants. I'd hate for her to feel she has to join the line for possession of my bollocks." The dog-Animagus shuddered. "And not in the pleasant still-attached-to-my-body-way either."

_.:Tiger, Tiger:._

_Right, howzzat? Dorcas, kicking butt in a truly Dorcas way. Of course, don't expect to see her that mad all that often. She only gets like that when she's really, _really_ angry. And she was really, _really_ angry with Gaylord. _

_Could you tell?_

_Limit breaks and the like will be explained in the next chapter. Poem that Dorcas partly sings is 'The Tyger' by William Blake. I wanted to have _

"_But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams, his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream. His wings are clipped and his feet are tied…_

_So he opens his throat to sing."_

_From the poem 'Caged Bird' by Maya Angelou. But it was written after the time we're in now (at least it was copyrighted 1983) so I couldn't use it._

_Oh well. I hope you liked the chapter, all the same. Please review!_


	4. Repressed Remembrance

Lily blinked. Alice felt her resolve crumble at the look of total incomprehension on her best friend's face.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You…you don't remember?"

"The last thing I remember is eating dinner with the Patil's. Are you – you're saying that…"

"Libby's parents are dead. She's—" Alice swallowed. "She's in Spell Damage at St. Mungo's, undergoing treatment for over-exposure to the Cruciatus Curse. You were nearly…you were nearly…"

"Strangled to death," Talyn's soft voice took over. Lily's hand went automatically to her throat, testing the bruises there.

"Yes." Alice glared at Talyn. There was such a thing as being _too_ blunt. "And then as close as Madam McKinnon's been able to determine, you tried too hard to get out of the situation, broke your limit and unleashed a whole lot of untapped potential magic. That snapped the Trace in half and you must have been concentrating so hard on getting away that you spontaneously Apparated."

"To _Ambrosius?_" Lily shook her head. "I...don't remember any of this"

"Well, when a person suffers trauma—"

"_I don't suffer trauma!_" she shrieked.

Silence.

_No. No, Lily, don't do it. Don't go inside, don't—_

Too late. The red-head's face slowly shut down, the emotion draining from her features until she was wearing the expression that had gained her the title 'Empress of Ice'.

"So. I don't remember. I don't remember seeing my friend tortured, I don't remember seeing her parents murdered and I certainly don't remember breaking my limit. Does Madam McKinnon know _why_ I don't remember any of these things?"

"We – we didn't know you weren't going to remember," Alice said, a tad hesitant. "But after the Healer left, Madam Mc-Kay checked to make sure there weren't any strange spells on you. You must have just—" She cast about, looking for the right word.

"Repressed," Talyn suggested. Alice turned to stare incredulously at the unflappable girl who had actually gotten a word right for once.

"Yeah. Repressed the memories."

"Right. Are there any estimates as to when I'm going to regain full control of my magic?"

"Ah…no. Not really. Madam Mc-Kay said you should be able to use it when school starts, but whether you'll be able to control it or if it'll be at full strength…" She left it hanging.

"Right," Lily said again. "When is the funeral?"

Now it was Alice's turn to blink. "Funeral?"

"Yes, Alice," the red-head bit out, somewhat scathingly. "It's customary for people to have one after they die."

The blonde winced. For all her reputation as a hard-arsed bitch, she was no match for Lily at her finest. Alice was terrifying, but Lily could be _cruel_.

It was all that damn Liberty's fault, of course. But it wasn't worth her friendship with Lily to point it out.

_I'm sorry. She's crazy. It's sad. But there's a huge part of me that's relieved she's away from Lily, and I know I'm not the only one._

"I don't know when the funeral is, but I could owl Storm—" Storm, Liberty's older brother, black sheep of the Patil family and Alice's boyfriend.

"Thanks," Lily bit out, standing. "I'll see you at Kings Cross then."

Alice stared. "Wait – what? Where are you going?"

Lily gazed back at the blonde, face showing nothing. If eyes were the windows to the soul, her curtains were pulled shut. "I don't know."

Somehow, Alice got that it wasn't a place Lily was talking about.

_.:Repressed Remembrance:._

"So, let me get this straight." Sirius, arms folded, was leaning easily against the wall of his bedroom in Ambrosius, watching Dorcas Meadowes bouncing slightly on the edge of his bed. "My bastard of a father thought that you would make me a good wife and you were so horrified by the idea that you acted the deranged harpy and threatened to destroy your brother's mind."

"Oh, there was no acting involved, Black. Mother dallied too far, once. I keep the feathers hidden though." She tapped the side of her nose. "And I didn't threaten to _destroy_ his mind as such. Just…tamper with it a little. Maybe get him married to a dragon or something of the like."

"Is that legal?"

"Oddly enough, yes. Poor Minister Merryweather, a couple of centuries back. Spent too much time around his pet Augery's just before the storm of the decade hit. Drove him totally batty. He managed to pass a few nonsensical laws before they dragged him off to St Mungo's, and no one ever thought to change them."

Sirius stared. "Aren't you just a barrel full of useless information?"

"I'm a Ravenclaw. Anyway, if we return to your original question, you pretty much have the gist of it. I also shattered a priceless stained glass window and told dearest Gaylord that I would _never_ marry you—" She winked at him. "But that's just semantics. I thought that, considering you were somewhat involved as well, I'd pop over and tell you." She bounced a little more on the bed and then flopped back. "Great Merlin, Black, this bed is quite possibly the most delightful thing I've ever lain on. Including Dean Fawcett."

"You are incorrigible," he stated, pushing himself off the wall and sauntering over to her. "And I'm not sure whether to be honoured or offended that thought of marrying me was what finally enabled you to show down your brother."

"And so shall you remain perpetually," she laughed. "To be honest though, if it had been _your_ brother on offer I don't think I would have been quite so vehement in my disapproval. I _do_ so enjoy corrupting the young."

"Sorry my dear, but the job of corrupting my snotty little brother was auctioned off before his birth. You must have missed it."

"Oh, shame that. He's such a pretty thing too."

"Not prettier than me, I hope!" Sirius exclaimed, an exaggerated look of shock on his face as he threw himself on the bed next to Meadowes.

"Love, not even Liberty Patil could beat you in the pretty stakes."

"I'm so glad." He paused. "How _is_ Liberty, by the way?"

Meadowes jerked, turning to stare at him. "How do you mean?" she asked slowly.

He looked at her pityingly. "I'm not totally devoid of a brain, Meadowes. The newspaper article points out the obvious to anyone with the right sort of information. Liberty Patil is currently bonkers and Evans is our unnamed hero."

"Merlin's Balls, what on earth is _in_ that article?" Meadowes growled.

"You haven't read it?"

"I don't touch the _Prophet _on principle. Alice Flooed around to the Mansion this morning and told me what happened – and no, I shan't let you in on the secret, because I know full well you'll go straight to Potter and tell him."

"You make me sound like his bitch," Sirius bemoaned.

She shot him a cheeky grin. "Are you not?"

"If anyone's a bitch, it's you. Harlot."

"Why, and aren't you the kindest young lad to say it. But make up your mind, dearest Black – am I a bitch or a harlot?"

"Out of everyone I've ever known, Meadowes, you are the most capable of being both."

"I think I'm hurt, Black. One would think you'd never even met Liberty Patil."

They both laughed at that.

"Oh, now you've gone and made me feel bad, Black. It's wrong of us to laugh, considering her position."

"Position. Yes, well, she's been in a lot of those, hasn't she? Missionary, doggy…" He trailed off, laughing as Meadowes hit him on the shoulder.

"Stop it! You're terrible, Black. Granted Liberty is – was? – a whore of the first degree, but she looks to be taking up permanent residence in St Mungo's. So, out of respect for Lily if not the tart herself, we should probably refrain from impugning her rather dubious honour."

"And aren't you off to a roaring, start, Meadowes? Three insults you packed into that little speech – should I be referring to you as Whitburn now?"

"Alice _does_ tend to go overboard sometimes, doesn't she?"

Sirius shuddered, and it was only partly mocking. "The look in her eyes the last time she threatened me with dismemberment…she was about to do it, I swear. Thank Merlin Minnie showed up."

"You know, I've always thought Alice gives you a great deal more credit than you deserve, Black."

"Oh?"

"Yes. See, she jumps right in and assumes that you are actually in the _possession_ of bollocks. I remain a tad suspicious about the whole affair."

"I think I'm offended," he echoed her words from before.

"The fact that you're thinking at all, Black, worries me more than a little." She flopped back onto his bed, her brunette hair fanning out rather prettily on his deep red duvet cover. She pinned him with sapphire dark eyes, sparkling with amusement. "See something you like?"

He gave her the once over, allowing a roguish grin to cross his lips. "I'm seeing many things I like, Meadowes."

She shifted around until she was on her side, face leaning over his and hair brushing his cheek. "Well, you know what they say…" He blinked and she was off the bed, sauntering over to the door. "Now you see me. Now you don't."

He laughed delightedly, leaping off the bed and catching her around the waist just before she could open the door. "Tease," he murmured into her ear.

"Aren't I just? But tell me you don't enjoy it, Black, and I shall crawl back to my brother and beg to marry you."

"Alas, I shall have to wait for another day to see you on your knees. A man would have to be a eunuch not to enjoy it."

"Oh, _oh, _and now who's being a tease, hmm? At least that solves the question of your manhood, if one must be a eunuch to not enjoy a good flirt."

"Dorcas Meadowes, if there has ever been anything totally unquestionable about me, it is the state of my manhood. Now, what do you want?"

She turned large, over innocent eyes to face him, brushing a lock of hair back. "Want?"

"Don't play me for the fool, Meadowes. You're after something."

She pouted outrageously, then rolled her eyes, unable to keep the expression for long. "Oh, all right. What I want, Black is for you to make sure Potter doesn't figure out what happened to Lily."

He raised an eyebrow. "Look, I know Prongs isn't the most logical person in the world, but he pays attention when it comes to Lily. If he figures it out on his own, I can't exactly stop him."

Meadowes wrinkled her nose adorably. "Then just…don't hint about anything you had verified here. And if Remus figures it out, don't let him tell Potter either. Lily doesn't need the stress."

Sirius turned her in his arms. "And what do I get for omitting things from my best friend?"

"Ah. You get…" Her arms encircled his neck and her lips hovered over his. Then she was gone, out through the door and laughing gaily. "The thrill of the chase, dearest Black!" she threw over her shoulder.

Oddly enough, her actions didn't frustrate Sirius as much as they should have. He merely shook his head and started running after her.

_.: Repressed Remembrance:._

"Lily, dear, what on earth are you doing home so early? And without your luggage? Lily?"

The red-head turned a stoic face to her mother, Carol Evans, as she stepped from the fire. "Lib…Lib and I had a fight. A hugely, massive fight. I'll worry about my stuff later, right now I just need…"

"Ah." Lily's mother nodded like she understood, and maybe she _did_ understand having a fight with one of your best friends, but she certainly didn't understand this. No one could understand this, this knowing and not remembering, a second hand account of a first hand experience, a _horrific_ first hand experience that Lily didn't have the right to forget.

"I'm going for a walk," she whispered, shuffling towards the front door. Her mother was biting her lip in worry, but Lily couldn't find the energy in her to care. Her mind had anchored on the image of a small park, not far away, where she had often found solace as a child.

She could only hope _he_ wasn't there.

_.: Repressed Remembrance:._

Snape felt mildly ridiculous, a sixteen year old boy sitting on a swing in a children's playground. A _Muggle's _children's playground. But his father didn't come near here, nowhere so close to the richer houses owned by superior families.

_Lily._

And he'd been so stupid, hadn't he? Let the wonder of finally, _finally _belonging block out what was really important – _Lily_ – and now he might be in too deep.

_No. It's just a bit of harmless – alright, maybe not_ so_ harmless – banter. A pissing contest, 'who can act the most like a Death Eater and get away like it?'._

"Oh. You – I was hoping you wouldn't be here."

Snape jerked out of his reverie at the sound of that voice, _her_ voice, her beautiful voice that he hadn't heard in weeks, maybe months. "Lily?"

"Severus," she acknowledged coolly. "Now, if you could just pretend I'm not here, it would be much appreciated."

He opened his mouth to retort as she sat on the free swing, but realised it was pointless. She'd just ignore him anyway. With Lily Evans, he'd burnt his bridges.

_That's right, Snape. Just sit down, shut up, and suffer._

_.: Repressed Remembrance:._

_Alright, that's chapter three up! Next chapter is where I start mingling old and new, so hopefully it should be up quicker. Then again, it may not be, because exams are in a week in a half and I also want to write another chapter for 'Hero'. So we'll see. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please, please review! _


	5. Only A Marauder

_If you have not, god forbid, read The Two Towers (this particular scene isn't in the movie…well, it may be in the extended version, but I forget) and are intending to do so, theirs is one mention of a spoiler just after Remus picks up his book, alright? Just skip past the italics if you don't want to be spoiled for a certain battle during the book (as if one couldn't guess the outcome anyway.)_

_I'm feeling more generous than usual, which is odd. I have exams in four days I think it is, and so far I have done…three, five hours study? Whatever. I only have two this coming week, and the added bonus is that I just don't fail exams. I just don't._

_Yeah, I'll start panicking around Tuesday. Did you know, I once crammed for a science exam the night before and came out with an Excellence? I almost wish I'd got a Merit…would have made me less cocky, I think._

**Also, Important:**_ If there's anyone out there who's willing to do any fanart at all for me, could you let me know? I really want pictures! Lol, I have a friend who does a lot of artage for me, but she has her own stuff to work on, you know? Plus, she's working on an amazing piece for my original fiction, so I don't want to ask her for anymore._

_.:Only A Marauder:._

It was September first, and Remus was lounging on the black leather couch in Ambrosius' west wing lounge, sipping pumpkin juice and amusing himself by watching Sirius and James rushing in and out of the room from various places on the estate. They had, of course, left packing to the last minute despite Remus' many, _many _warnings.

"…unlike _you_ Prongs, I can actually get what I want!" Sirius yelled over his shoulder as he strode back into the room, a broom under one arm and a rather rumpled looking Kneazle under the other.

"Yes, because Dorcas Meadowes is just begging to be in your bed!" James snarled back as he ran in through the other entrance. The reason for his haste was revealed a few seconds later when James' owl, Helix, soared in after him, squawking angrily and began to peck him. "Ouch – Helix! Helix, stop it! I'm _sorry_ I took the rat away, but Wormy's coming soon and we have to _leave_ any - _Helix!_"

The owl squawked one final time before emptying her bowels on James' shirt and flapping her way over to the mantle piece where she began to preen.

During this ordeal, Sirius had collapsed on the floor, he was laughing so hard. Remus was chuckling too, although it was more at Sirius' antics than the horrified look on James face as the Potter-heir stormed out of the lounge, presumably to fetch a new shirt.

"Oh, let me guess, Prongs!" Sirius yelled after him. "_This_ is the year you will catch the inestimable Miss Evans?"

James' reply came in the form of a bird-shit covered shirt that fell more than several feet short of its intended destination – Sirius' head.

"You missed!" he roared delightedly. Then he swore, because the Kneazle he'd been carrying under his arms decided to scratch the living daylights out of him. He threw his head back even as he tried to wrangle her off of him. "_Stella!_"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I show you one Muggle movie…" Stella was, of course, the Kneazle's name, but had only been so since Remus introduced Sirius to _A Streetcar Named Desire._ Before that, the black and white animal had been called by the rather unimaginative name of 'Fluff'. Remus wasn't entirely sure how Sirius, who spoke four languages fluently and English acceptably couldn't come up with anything better than 'Fluff' until his introduction to cinema, but then again, Sirius was _the_ anomaly.

Green flames flared in the fireplace and Peter stumbled out, grumbling. "Hit my elbow," he offered by way of explanation. "Where's Prongs?"

Remus was a little worried about how Peter's life seemed to revolve around James and to some extent Sirius and himself. It wasn't a good thing, to be obsessed with others to the point of having no life yourself.

He wondered, sometimes, why he couldn't take his own advice.

"He's off thinking up ways of romancing our Empress." Sirius rolled his eyes, having detached Stella from his leg. "I swear, the prat has no sense."

"You only just realised?" Remus enquired as he reached over to the coffee table where his book was lying – _The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers_ – and resumed reading. "Of course, I understand why it's taken you so long, not possessing anything even resembling sense in the first place." He flicked the page over to Legolas gushing about a forest when the Battle of Helm's Deep had just been won. _Nice to know he's got his priorities sorted. Climatic battle has just been won, and he's looking at the trees. _"Put the cushion down, Black," he warned, turning to the next chapter. He could almost _feel_ Sirius pouting, although the sensation soon disappeared when Peter yelped as the cushion hit him square in the face. "And leave Peter alone."

"He's fine." Sirius shrugged it off. "He likes the attention. Don't ya, Wormy?"

Peter mumbled something unintelligible.

"Boys!" Hope Potter's floated through the air. "Have you finished packing yet? We have to leave in twenty minutes!"

"Prongs is having a last minute wardrobe malfunction, Mrs. Potter!" Sirius yelled back. "Courtesy of his – oh, wait, here he is, never mind."

Remus glanced up as James entered the room wearing a black Muggle t-shirt with some obscure band that probably he'd never heard of printed on the front. The bespectacled teenager was frowning in thought, adding something up on his fingers. Sirius, whose feet had been resting on a stool, hooked his feet around said chair and sent it skidding towards James who then succeeded spectacularly in tripping over it.

Sirius laughed uproariously as James started swearing from his position on the ground. Remus should his head at his friends' antics and returned to his book while Peter giggled nervously, not sure whose side to take.

There was a resounding crash and a small yelp as presumably James threw the stool at Sirius and missed.

"Some Chaser you are!" the Black heir jeered.

"You cheated!"

"I moved out of the way, Prongs. That's not cheating, that's intelligence. Oh, shit, you hit Wormy!"

This time Remus did look up, concerned, but James and Sirius were already on it, each of them taking charge of one of Peter's arms and hauling him to his feet.

"You all right, mate?" Sirius enquired. Peter flashed him a grin from behind a bleeding nose.

"Yed, I'b fined."

"Your nose is bleeding, you prat," James scolded, rolling his eyes. "You're not fine. C'mon, we'll go see mum. Wouldn't be the first time she's patched up a victim of the stool."

"Ah, yes, the dreaded stool," Remus drawled, reaching for his bookmark and sliding it in place as he stood. "Constantly does it take on a mind of its own and attacks poor innocent bystanders."

"Could you tell Evans that, Moony?" James asked, shoving his glasses up his nose. "The innocent bystander thing? 'Cause I think she might actually believe it coming from you."

"Mate, the darling Empress is never going to believe you're innocent. Not even if Liberty Patil herself said it."

Remus twitched slightly, and Sirius must have sensed it somehow, because he twisted his head around to raise his eyebrow at the lycanthrope.

James snorted as he and Sirius started hauling a mildly dazed Peter from the room, Remus and his book trailing behind them. "Liberty Patil. Everything that comes out of her mouth is just rose-scented bull."

"Yeah, well, the Empress thinks that Patil's shit doesn't stink, so that hardly matters." Sirius rolled his eyes. "I swear, Evans needs to magic herself up a clue. Or at least get Talyn to buy her one."

"She's been disowned," Remus informed him. "First day of the holidays. She's been staying at the Rose Garden."

"I know. Notice the use of her first name, O Wise Lord of Wisdom."

"Wise Lord of – oh, never mind. If you knew, how on earth would you expect Talyn to buy Lily a clue? That is to say, if it were possible."

"Because, my Not-So Wise Lord of Wisdom, she who was once known as Talyn Parkinson, while not a Slytherin, still comes from a Slytherin family. Scary as she may be, Talyn's still has more cunning in her left eyebrow than Wormy here has in his entire five foot body."

"Fibe food fouw!" Peter protested.

"It's okay, Wormy, the width makes up for it," James laughed. "Seriously though, Park – wait, no, Talyn's – been disowned? Why?"

"No idea," Sirius shrugged. "Does it matter? Good on her, I say. If I could find the key to the family fault, I'd be so far away from Grimmauld Place, even my mother's dulcet tones wouldn't reach me."

"So what, you're headed to New Zealand?" James joked.

"Nah. Too fresh, too pleasantly innocent. I need a place that's dirty and rough…Australia, I think."

"Whad's New Deelambd?" Peter asked.

"Small country near the bottom of the world. Home to the Antipodean Opaleye, although there are a few in Australia as well," Remus supplied. "Well, not for much longer if that's where Padfoot intends to live."

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Sirius.

"It means, Padfoot, that your idiocy terrifies even dragons."

James swore at having to take all of Peter's weight as Sirius threw his arms out wide and then clasped his hands over his heart. "I am hurt, my Wise Lord of—"

"Oh, don't start, Sirius. And pick up Peter before James collapses."

Sirius saluted. "Yes, O Wi—"

"_Sirius!_ Be serious!" Remus blanched, realising exactly what the dog-Animagus had conned him into. "Oh, you prick."

Sirius, in a rare moment of wisdom, started running. _No_ one tricked Remus Lupin into punning.

"I'll throw you a splendid funeral, mate!" James called after Sirius as Remus gave chase, brandishing his copy of _The Two Towers_ in the air.

"Fuck you!" Sirius called back cheerily over Remus' ranting.

"Sirius Orion Black! That is _not_ funny! You know what? Tolkien is too good to hit you with! Where's my copy of the _Iliad?_"

"You know—" James remarked conversationally to Peter, who had been dumped on the ground. "—to anyone else that would seem pretty strange."

"I sdill thing id's pweddy stwange" Peter slurred. "Who led's a bed ged dad oudda hand?"

James pulled Peter to his feet again. "Only a Marauder, mate. Only a Marauder."

_.:Only A Marauder:._

"Tuney, _please_!"

Lily's sister turned her face away. "I have nothing to say to you."

The red-head's eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips. Outside lightning cracked and the rain intensified threefold, joined by the clamour of hail.

"Fine. Just – fine. Be a bitch," Lily hissed. "God, you're been so wrapped up in bloody _Vernon Dursley_, the fat pig, that you don't pay attention to anything else." Lily made a disgusted noise and bit her lip, annoyed with herself at losing control like that. "It's like – I don't even know you, and you don't want to know about me."

Petunia turned her horse-like face back to her sister, a black mask of rage covering her face. "You know what, Lily? I _don't _care! I really couldn't care less about what happens to you, swanning around in your little world of _freaks_, the bloody wooden stick shoved through your hair. I hate you! Do you hear me? I _loathe_ you! You think you're so bloody special, being a witch but you're not! You're _worthless!_ Sure, you come top in your class, you're gorgeous and you're a bloody Prefect, but that means nothing when you can't even protect your friends! See? I know things, Lily, I've heard your screaming! You may put that pathetic face on day after day after day, but it doesn't hide the fact that you, _Lily Evans_, best bloody witch of the decade couldn't save her best friend! You're a—"

What she was, Lily never found out. "You malevolent little _whore_." She spat out each word carefully and precisely, voice as cold as death itself. "You think you know what happened? You know _nothing. _I nearly died, Petunia, do you understand that? Can you work that through that horse-shaped skull of yours? I was nearly fucking _murdered_, and you, my sister, the person who's meant to love me and look after me and fucking _care_...doesn't. You don't give a shit." Petunia looked on impassively, and the barrier holding Lily together fell apart. The ice shattered into a million pieces and let loose the torrent behind it. "God damn it, how _dare_ you call me a freak? You're the pathetic little girl who begged to be let _into_ the freak school with a headmaster too polite to tell you that you're nothing but a fucking ignorant, talent-less little _bitch! _You would have been fucking _happy_ if I'd been murdered, wouldn't you?" Lily was screaming now, but she didn't care. The only important thing was wiping that awful look of _indifference _of her sister's face.

"Yes."

_Smack!_

Lily slapped her older sister across the face. In the resulting silence, the only thing that could be heard was the red-head's heavy breathing.

"You – you—"

Slowly Petunia turned her eyes up to Lily's. "You _were _my sister. Once. Then you pranced off to that school of yours and I lost you." In contrast to Lily's previous screaming, Petunia's voice was low, almost inaudible. "Oh, not immediately. But over time…and then you met that horrible Patil girl and you weren't my sister any more. You're a hard, cold _bitch_ who shows up in my family's house in the holidays and hurts my parents. So yes. If you had died, I would have been happy. Because I've already lost my sister, and all I want now is this stranger out of my life."

Lily's entire body felt oddly loose and tingly as she walked away, shutting the door quietly behind her. _Lies. All lies. She's jealous, she's just jealous. She didn't mean any of it. Libby…_She made her way across the small lounge to the sliding door of Petunia's flat under the Evans house. _This feeling…what is it? I need to get it out of me. Getoutgetoutget_out!

Then she was outside, pounding through the downpour, hail stinging her bare arms. Salty tears mixed with rain as she ran up the outside stairs to her private balcony and crashed into her room. The wind howled, whipping around her and into the bedroom, causing several of her lighter belongings to careen around the spacious area. The glass door slammed shut of its own accord, the panes rattling but Lily paid it no head. Her magic had picked up on her rage and pain and reacted as only pure unrestrained magic could. Ferna, her owl, screamed nervously as a glass vase smashed itself against the wall over her perch, sending a wave of water cascading down over the baffled bird, who screamed once again in protest. The flowers ripped themselves to pieces as her books came to life and started attacking each other. Ferna screamed a third time, and Lily suddenly jerked out of it. The tingly feeling dissipated and a haze dropped from her eyes as she surveyed her half-destroyed room. The was an odd roaring sound, and Lily looked down at her left wrist in time to see flames withdraw themselves back into the triangular scar there. She reached up to touch her wet mouth and when her fingers came away red, she realised she'd bitten through her lip.

_Put it away, Evans. You're behaving like a child, and that is _not_ to be tolerated. So what if your life is falling down around your ears? They don't call you the Empress of Ice for nothing._

In two easy strides she was in front of the mirror, and what she saw there made her want to punch it into a thousand tiny pieces. Lily abhorred any signs of weakness, and her face was teeming with them. Her poison eyes were half manic and magic sparked in the pupils, while the blood dribbling down her chin completed the feral look. Well, it would have been feral if not for that fact that her hair was drawn back tightly from her head and secured with her wand, pulling at her skin and making her look oddly stretched.

How was she meant to be confident and aloof when she looked like somebody's crazy nana? She stripped off her clothes and stared at her reflection.

_Oh, God, what have I done to myself?_ Weeks of running out her grief, of not eating, not sleeping, had done nothing for her figure. She'd lost the healthy curves that made her Lily, her ribs were visible, the skin hung loose…

"You disgust me," she whispered. Not able to look at _it_ anymore, she turned away and swore.

How was she going to face people like James Potter and Sirius Black, when she couldn't even face herself?

She should have just stayed at Alice's. There would have been magic folk there, a _family_ who loved her to look after her, to make sure she ate right and slept regularly. But Lily had been desperate to see her own family, desperate to make sure they were still alive.

Well, she would be gone in an hour, what did it matter? All that was important now was slapping her happy mask back onto her face, and making sure she looked as gorgeous as she possibly could.

_I will not let them ruin my life_, she thought as she hesitantly picked up her clothes. No, that wasn't going to work. She searched through her wardrobe until she found something that hid just how skinny she'd become, and slipped it on. Once she got to Hogwarts…everything would be alright once she got to Hogwarts. She had to believe that.

"Lily?" said mother called. "Are you alright, love?"

"I'm fine!" she replied. Now that she thought about it, she _didn't_ want her parents coming to the station with her. No, it'd be much easier if everyone just stayed away. She pulled her wand from her hair, letting it cascade down her shoulders – it wasn't brushed, but that was easily remedied. As she yanked a comb through the auburn tresses, she was astonished to realise that it had grown almost two inches. _Is that even possible over a summer?_

Then again, with the Trace broken and her magic half wild, anything was possible.

Lily's magic picked up the sound of her mother coming up the stairs and carried it back to her. She bit her lip, only to feel a sharp pain as she disturbed the already healing flesh and her teeth met. _At least my magic has decided to help out for once. _It had been mildly astonishing, to see how much more powerful her magic was when she couldn't control it. She'd only learnt basic healing spells in advanced charms, and nothing about healing a hole in _flesh. _

_But it is out of control. And control is necessary to survive, so the lack of it is not to be tolerated._

She tossed her comb into the trunk and scooted over to her dressing table, hastily applying some foundation to even out her complexion and some blusher to put a healthy glow onto her cheeks. After throwing her bag of cosmetics into the trunk and slamming the lid down, she grabbed a piece of paper and a pen then wrote a hurried note to her parents.

Her owl, Ferna, hooted and she cursed. Footsteps were approaching her room, and she _really_ didn't want to say good-bye to her mother face to face after her confrontation with Petunia. She flung the note onto her bed, placed one hand on Ferna's cage and the other on her trunk, and holding her wand between her teeth – _Please work, please work, oh god, don't Splinch – _she Disapparated.

_Only A Marauder:._

Carol Evans' head peered around Lily's door. She swore quietly when she realised her younger daughter wasn't there and her eyes fell upon the note.

_Mum,__ Dad_

_Owl you when I get to Hogwarts._

_Bye_

She bit her lip in a gesture her daughter often echoed when worried.

"Oh, Lily. Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

_.:Only A Marauder:._

_A little old, a little new, a little – actual, nothing borrowed and nothing blue. This does, however, mark the point where old _For Truth _meets new _For Truth. _Updates, when I've finished my exams, should come a lot quicker, as I'm basically just changing things around and adding things in now – fixing canon muck ups and generally making this a better story._

_I hope you liked this chapter, and please review!_


	6. Threats

_It's been a while, and while probably be a while longer, I'm afraid. This time I'm actually utterly unrepentant for what will be few and far between updates because my end of year exams are in five weeks, and if I don't get the right marks I'll only pass the year with an Achieved, which is like a fail to me. So I'll update when or if I can, and then I have eight weeks of holidays in about 8-9 weeks, 'kay? That means lotsa updates._

_**Note:**__ Talinga is pronounced tah-LING-ah. Ling rhymes with the word thing. Soft 'g'._

_.:Threats:._

"Lily."

_Oh my god, it actually worked. And – _She glanced around to make sure. _No owl from the Ministry. The Trace is totally gone._

"Lily."

Said red-head blinked and turned smartly to her left. She swallowed, then started walking towards the crimson train.

"Hello, Talyn."

There was no response. Lily sighed and twisted her head around to smile tiredly at her friend. "Thanks."

The raven-haired teen merely nodded in response.

This was exactly what Lily needed. Silence from a person she could trust not to be judgemental about it, person who would let her pretend she was strong until she regained that strength on her—

"Well, well, well. Lily Evans. Goodness, you're looking a tad peaky love. Big shock over the holidays, maybe?"

Lily blinked, making sure she wasn't seeing double before she bared her teeth in a sneer at the girl in front of her. She would have been exactly the same as the girl next to her, if not for the fact that her luxurious black ringlets were loose to her waist instead messily tied back with a red ribbon, her voice dripped venom – loudly – as opposed to being an apathetic whisper and she was drenched in some kind of perfume.

"Talinga Parkinson. How wonderful to see you darling. My god, what is that dreadful stench? Oh, never mind, dear, it's just you this time, as opposed to one of those dogs you usually drag around."

Instead of the outraged shriek such a comment would have usually drawn from Talyn's twin, Talinga merely smirked back. "You know, I've not seen hide nor hair of Liberty Patil at all in the last little while. Awfully strange, don't you think? Usually her family's doing something miraculous like—"

"Talinga."

Lily had been on the verge of punching the Slytherin in her perfectly formed nose when Talyn spoke. She froze.

"Oh, look! It's the traitor. Where _have_ you been, Talyn? Did you find a place to stay after all that, or have you been hiding out in a cardboard box in Knockturn Alley? After all, you know that nobody _truly_ cares about you. What with you no longer part of any respectful family, that is." Talinga smiled almost pleasantly, but her black eyes glittered with malice.

Lily placed a hand on Talyn's shoulder and pushed her back lightly as the younger girl shrugged. She leaned in until Talinga's perfume started to overwhelm her.

"You're neither wanted nor needed here, Parkinson, so I suggest you leave and find one of your slavering puppies to boil before you make me _really_ angry."

"Goodness, Evans, falling back on threats already? I thought you had a crumb more backbone than that, but I guess I was wrong. Well, seeing as you've already broken, allow me to make a threat in turn." The Slytherin girl stepped in even closer, breath caressing Lily's ear. "I know all about your little adventure these holidays. I know what happened, I know the consequences and I know what is going to happen next. This puts me at a distinct advantage to you, sweetheart, so _I_ suggest you listen closely. If any harm comes to my sister because of you, not only will I _personally_ gut you with your own wand, I will let spill to the entire Hogwarts population exactly what it is that occurred at the Patil house this summer. Do we have an understanding?"

"You just wasted your threat, Parkinson," Lily hissed back. "Do you honestly think I'd let any harm come to my friends?"

"Well, you did this summer, didn't you?" Talinga stepped back and raised her voice. "To be honest, Evans, you're a selfish bitch and I don't trust you. But I'm holding the cards here, so make your decision."

"The decision was made before I even thought of you, Parkinson." Lily was about ready to kill the bitch.

"Good. So long as it stays made." She tossed a small pouch at her sister as she sauntered away. "Here, traitor. Do us all a favour and buy another box to shit in, would you? Because doing it in the one you live in is turning the air foul."

Talyn caught the pouch easily in one hand without blinking, using the other appendage to catch Lily's wrist and pull her back.

"Money," she said softly. "She said?"

"Nothing important."

"Oh." Lily watched her friend think about that. "You agreed?"

The red-head turned to see Talinga swallowed by a crowd of worshipping Slytherins. "Keeps her off my back."

"How'd you manage that, Miss Evans? And could you teach me?"

"Holy fucking _god!_' Lily shrieked, jumping about a mile into the air. She whipped around. "Who the—"

"You called?" Sirius Black grinned cheekily back at her from behind his hair.

She glared. "God you are not, Black, but with the right training you could be somewhat charming." A pause. "Every girl needs a lap dog."

"Oh, Lily-flower, don't say such cruel things." A rich voice breezed towards the small group. "You know the girls would be _so_ disappointed if the only thing Black was doing in their lap was panting."

Lily felt her eyebrows shoot up at that. "Dorcas Meadowes, you dirty cow."

The brunette laughed, and the power of her voice was evident in that golden sound. "That's me, love. Now, if you would excuse me and Master Black here?" She shot the other heir a smouldering look. "We have business to conduct."

"I'm sure you do," Lily muttered darkly under her breath. She turned to her silent friend. "Come on, Talyn, let's hunt down Alice."

_.:Threats:._

"She looks awful, doesn't she?" Dorcas said as soon as Lily was out of earshot.

"Horrendous," Sirius agreed. "Skin is kind of—"

"Saggy. And being the song-spinner I am, I should probably be able to think of a somewhat more flattering word than that."

"And yet?"

"And yet."

"Oi, Padfoot! You seen Evans around anywhere?" James ran up to the pair, followed by Remus and Peter. "Oh, Meadowes." He nodded shortly. "Hi."

"Potter." She inclined her head. "And no, we've not."

"I wasn't asking—"

"We've _not_," Dorcas repeated, and the sky seemed to darken momentarily.

"Ah…right. Yeah, 'course not. Stupid of me to ask, really." James scratched the back of his neck.

"Indeed." She turned back to Sirius, sultry smirk crossing her full lips. "I thought you were meant to be chasing me, Master Black."

"Why chase what's already caught, Miss Meadowes? After all, you're the one who's sought me out."

A pair of dainty hands were placed carefully on his chest and slid up to anchor around his neck. "Sought? Oh no, my dear Black. I merely spotted you and deigned to make my presence known."

"Deigned?" he protested.

"Such a shame. It appears you are rather untrained. Tell you what—" Dorcas leaned up and kissed the corner of his mouth. "Work on your communication skills, Black and these lips may go someplace more interesting." She winked at him before stepping back and blowing him a kiss as she sauntered off.

Sirius cocked his head slightly, grinning. "Nice view!"

Without turning, the Head Girl flipped him the bird. Next to him, James whistled.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "That pretty much sums it up."

Remus frowned slightly. "Sirius, you realise that whatever it is you've gotten into with her, it probably isn't safe."

His grin widened, stringing the words 'into' and 'her' together so they had a somewhat different meaning. "I know. Fun, innit?"

Peter whimpered slightly. "Uh…Prongs, Padfoot? Isn't that Whitburn coming towards us? Stalking…like a lion…" he gulped. "About to jump on its prey…?"

Sirius turned in the direction Wormy was facing, and indeed there was a short blonde coming towards the Marauders, an angry glint of hatred sparkling in her ice blue eyes.

"Whoawhoawhoa!" Sirius held up his hands defensively. "Hold on a sec there, darling. We haven't done anything wrong."

"Yet," Prongs supplied.

Sirius glared sideways. "Not helping."

"Oh. Yeah, sorry. Foot in mouth today, bad case."

"Today?"

"Ahem." Whitburn cleared her throat sending everyone but herself and Remus into the air. "Better. And I know you haven't done anything." She glanced at Prongs. "Yet. That's just my point. If any of you hurt Lily in any way shape or form, this year or any other, I will _personally_ oversee the removal of your bollocks and the shoving of them so far up your arse that _no one_, witch, wizard or Muggle surgeon will ever be able to _find_ them, let alone remove them. Understand? Good." And she stalked off.

Wormy fainted.

"Well," Sirius remarked as Remus bent to slap the boy awake again.

"Yep."

"That was more than your average 'I'll make sure you never father children' threat."

"Have you ever noticed all of Lily's friends should have been sorted into Slytherin?" James remarked bitterly. "I mean, there's _that_ harpy, Talyn—" They both shuddered. "And Meadowes…"

"There are simply no words to describe the elegant deviousness that is Dorcas Meadowes," Sirius laughed. "And Liberty Patil?"

"Oh, we all know about Liberty Patil," James growled darkly.

"Stop it, the both of you," Remus said, having successfully brought Peter back to life. "Lily's friends belong firmly where they have been sorted. Now, let's go find a compartment before the train leaves again. I'm not up for convincing you idiots that enchanting a car is a bad idea. Again."

xXx

A pair of hands slipped over Lily's eyes and a low voice reached her. "Guess who?"

At the last possible moment Lily prevented herself from beating the ever-loving shit out of her assailant. "Let go," she ground out.

"Guess who," he – it was a male – persisted.

"Oh, just leave off, Fabian," she sighed, shoving his hands off her face. "I'm not in the mood."

The younger Prewett twin laughed gaily, falling into step with her. "I'll never understand how you do that, Flower."

She scowled at him. "Don't call me that."

The Prewett boys, while not close friends of Lily's, _were_ close friends with Dorcas which was how she'd met them in the first place. Ravenclaws, the both of them, standing at six foot exactly with light brown hair and summer blue eyes. Gideon, the older, was the more outgoing of the two and Fabian the more studious. They shared the Hogwarts Duelling Championship because after beating out all the other competition (including Potter and Black) they'd battled for seventeen hours before collapsing at exactly the same time.

Fabian frowned. "You…really are in a bad mood, aren't you? Where are Alice and Talyn?"

She pasted a tired smile across her lips and turned to face him. "They went to the usual compartment. I'm just off to the pre—"

"You look exhausted," he said softly. "And don't hit me for saying it Flower, it's the truth. Rough summer?"

_You have no fucking idea._ "I – I guess," she said hesitantly. "I had the mother of all arguments with my sister about half an hour ago."

He looked surprised that Lily had actually told him anything. Hell _Lily_ was surprised that she'd spilled even that.

_Control, you stupid bitch. Get it under control. _She turned up the wattage on the smile. "But it doesn't matter, I'm feeling fine. Have you seen Alice?"

"No, but I did run into Talinga Parkinson, unfortunately. I feel kind of bad now, though. I called Gid over and trapped him there before I made my escape. I should probably go and rescue him soon, he has to make his Head Boy speech."

"Head – Head Boy? But you're the prefect!"

Fabian shrugged. "Doesn't matter either way. We seem a lot different, but really, we're the same. I could be just as good with people as Gid, but I don't want to. Why should I, when he's doing it?" He yawned. "So Gid got Head Boy. I'll probably steal the badge once or twice and even you won't be able to tell."

Lily blinked once or twice, then cocked her had, glad for something to take her mind of…other things. "I'll always be able to tell the difference between the two of you," she said simply.

"Oh?"

"Yep."

"How?"

She grinned, and it was almost real this time. "Dorcas Meadowes has her way of leaving her mark on people, Fabian, and you don't get that faintly awed look in your eye when you see her."

He mock shuddered. "No, my eye is set firmly away from Mother D. Woman's terrifying. Never know when—"

"Fab, darling! How are you?"

"—she's going to show up or what she's going to do," Fabian finished, rather faintly.

"You love me Fab," Dorcas breezed, flipping her brunette tresses over her shoulder, sapphire eyes sparkling. "Now! Lily, darling, how are _you_."

"Oh, I like _that_," Fabian huffed. "You waltz in here, scare the living daylights out of me, enquire as to how I am and then ignore me."

"You're not the one who looks like they've been run over by a truck," Dorcas shot back.

"Thanks," Lily drawled.

"I say it like it is, love, and you look awful. Enough so that other people are starting to notice. Namely your favourite boy band."

"Like I care what they think. Jeez, a girl forgets her foundation and everyone jumps on her," she laughed. "Come on, Fabian. I shall allow you to escort me to the prefect's compartment."

"Unfortunately, my fair lady, my brother is in severe need of rescuing. Though it doth rend my heart, I must decline and bid thee a fond farewell." He gave a florid bow, winked, then ran off.

"What does Gid need rescuing from?" Dorcas asked quizzically.

"Talinga Parkinson."

"Ah. Slut."

"What, Fabian?"

"No, Parkinson. Oh, I'll freely admit to having the odd rendezvous, but she has no class. No style."

"If you say so, Dorcas."

The older girl sniffed. "I do say so. Now, come along ducks. If Fabian is stupid enough to refuse your hand, I shall be your escort."

"You may be too kind, Mother D, but you're not a prefect," Lily pointed out.

"No, but I am Head Girl." She jerked her head. "Come on."

"I – what? _How?_"

"Merlin only knows, my Lily-flower, but I fully intend on abusing my privileges to the max. This includes escorting you, so hurry up. We don't have all day."

_.:Threats:._

_So, chapter 05. I hope you liked, and please review!_


	7. Of Chess And Strangulation

_**Important: **__I've made a few decisions relating to the story. A few things have to be moved around, especially the whole Snape/Remus/Sirius/James/Tunnel escapade. Upon reading DH it seems that it occurred in Fifth year, but for the purposes of this story it will be in Sixth as previously assumed by the statement that Sirius was sixteen at the time. So, while most of the story will be in canon, there will probably be a few discrepancies. The means, however, justify the end in this case, the end being a better story._

_I know it's been a long, long time since I updated, but I had another exam a real one this time (Cambridge English) and in two weeks I have the most important exams of the year, so I'll be concentrating o them. HOWEVER – on November 30 my exams are over and I have a full two months off school. Writing, writing, writing!_

_Lol. I give you chapter six._

_.:Of Chess And Strangulation:._

Lily stirred. "Was I asleep?"

"No, you were just lying there with your eyes shut, snoring."

"I do not snore, Remus!" she cried opening her eyes. "Wait – Remus?"

The tawny boy grinned down at her. "Good nap?"

"Oh, shut up," she grumbled, "Where's the rest of the idiot squad?"

"We're in the prefect compartment, Lily. They're not allowed in here. You slept through the whole meeting, incidentally."

She swore. "Do you know when our patrol is? Crap, what's the password?"

"It's okay, Lily, Dorcas gave us last patrol and the password is Belcome Wack."

Lily blinked. "Belcome Wack?"

"Looks rather like the Fat Lady's been drinking again, doesn't it?"

"It does indeed." She pushed herself to her feet and exited the compartment, Remus following behind her. Happy shrieks wrapped around her and she smiled bitterly. _At least the war hasn't reached them yet._

Remus touched her on the shoulder. "Are you alright, Lily?" For some reason that question carried a lot more weight than it should have.

She hastily whipped up a breezy grin as she turned to face him. "I'm fine, why?"

"Because you just passed your compartment and ignored three people calling your name." He gestured at the heads of Dorcas, Fabian and Alice sticking out from behind a door.

Lily blushed. "Oh…I'm kind of…out of it today. But I'll be back to normal in no time, don't you worry."

Remus smiled softly. "I won't, but I'm sure James will. Speaking of, I'd best go find him and the others before they do something too stupid."

"You're far too late for that, Remus. Those three were born too stupid. Come sit with us." She jerked her thumb at the three heads, two of whom were currently pulling ridiculous faces at her. Alice was just frowning, which looked faintly ridiculous in itself.

He shook his own head. "No, someone's got to keep them under control and I'm probably the best person to do it. You know how they get on the first day of school."

Somewhere from the back of the train Lily heard a shriek that sounded suspiciously like Severus. Once there would have been a time where she would have rushed to defend him but now…

Well. He'd burnt his bridges and Lily didn't see any point in trying to rebuild them.

"I'll come to get you when it's our turn to patrol, Lily," Remus said quietly. They both knew full well that he wasn't going to stop something that had already started. He turned and walked away.

Lily didn't say goodbye.

"Dorcas!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Don't do that, it's disgusting!"

"Caught your attention, didn't it?" the Head Girl grinned. "Consider it payback for falling asleep during my speech. Now, come inside and watch me beat the pants off Gid."

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Not like that, you tart!" Dorcas laughed. "And they say _I_ have a dirty mind. We're playing chess." Her head disappeared. "I saw that, Gid! Put my queen back where it belongs. And Fabian, get your hand off my arse."

Fabian winked at Lily then pulled himself back into the compartment. "But it's such a pretty arse."

Alice was still frowning. Lily raised her eyebrow again, suddenly feeling more like herself. It was pretty simple once you got back into the swing of it, this control thing.

"Well?" she persisted.

Alice shook her head. "Nothing. Come in, would you?"

True to her word, Dorcas decimated Gideon. He set the board up again, grumbling about his loss before shoving it at his twin.

"You versus Evans."

"She'll cream me!" Fabian protested.

"Good. You deserve to lose."

"Some brother you are," he groused. "Well, Lily?"

She grinned, a real smile this time. "Why not?"

"Bugger."

Dorcas patted his shoulder gently. "Don't worry love, I'll find a pretty matchbox for your remains."

"It's just a game of chess, Dorcas," Lily pointed out.

"Yeah, but you get _mean_ when you play, Flower."

Fabian whimpered his agreement to the laughter of everyone but Talyn, who merely smiled softly.

Okay, so Lily liked chess. Who wouldn't, it was a good game and since she'd been introduced to the wizarding version, she'd only ever lost one game. But no one ever mentioned that, so it didn't really matter.

Bloody James Potter.

The black pieces were closest to her, so she sat and waited for Fabian to make the first move. It was always fun to play against him, although it wasn't all that different from playing against Gid. The older twin took more risks, however, and while they sometimes payed off they more often fell through. Fabian was definitely the stronger player and like Lily, he played a fairly odd game.

The group was so engrossed in the game – they were all of them academics, even Alice – that – that none of them noticed the door sliding open until—

"Well, the most pungent smell of Mudblood seems to be hanging around this compartment, Severus, wouldn't you agree." A smirk crossed Avery thin lips. "Well, Evans, how was your summer?"

Lily faltered upon picking up her queen. _How the hell does everyone know about it?_ Tentatively, she put the queen down again, allowing her to smash Fabian's bishop to pieces.

"If the smell bothers you so, Avery, leave," she replied tightly. Glancing left, she saw Severus looked remarkably uncomfortable. _Probably something to do with the pink hair._

Fabian grinned and made his move. "Check."

_Fuck._ This was what she got for losing control, even for an instant. She'd meant the queen to go after his remaining castle, not the bishop and now not only was she in check, but Fabian had her queen as well.

Avery seemed rather miffed by her lack of reaction. He sniffed. "I refuse to reply to such—"

"Well, you just did, so there goes that idea." Lily interrupted, staring intently at the chessboard. She wasn't out yet. She moved her king to safety as Avery stepped into the compartment. No one moved to stop him, all of them far more interested in the chess game.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, you good for nothing whore!" Avery yelled. The boy was getting agitated, and angry people make mistakes. That was a biggy. The tension in the area sky-rocketed as Alice and Fabian snarled, reaching for their wands. Lily heard Dorcas clear her throat quietly and out of the corner of her eye saw Severus pale, taking a half step back.

Slowly, the redhead rolled her neck, refusing to look at the idiot. "What happened to the non-speaking rule, Avery? I like it better when I didn't have to hear your prepubescent voice."

"I said look at me!" Avery's voice had grown rather shrill. Lily smiled to herself – he did sound _remarkably_ like what she'd just accused him of. She nodded at Fabian to make his move.

"I don't take orders from anyone, love, least of all a half-brained twit like you." Not her best insult, but why waste them on someone like Avery?

With the ritual throwing of insults at last begun, Avery seemed to calm down a little bit. He was back on familiar ground now. Never mind that he was outnumbered six-to-one, Severus having disappeared. "Is that the best you can do, Evans? I guess the legendary Mudblood wit finally failed you. Run out of books to steal from or something?"

"No, Avery, I just don't see why I should bother wasting my resources on a waste of space such as yourself. And please. Just because you have to rifle through children's fairy tales in place of your imagination, don't assume the rest of us must." While she'd been speaking, both Lily and Fabian had taken their moves and were now at a stalemate.

"Why don't you face me like a real witch would?" he shrieked.

"Merlin, I don't think even I can reach that high an octave," Dorcas muttered.

The boy was getting redder and redder as Lily idly pulled her wand from her hair and twirled it around her fingers. Her magic sparked death green with it, and a collection of murmurs alerted Lily to the fact that the scene had attracted quite the crowd. Judging by certain voices taking bets, even the Marauders were there. She broke the stalemate by sacrificing one of her knights so she could take Fabian's other bishop. She smirked, moving a pawn and allowing Fabian to take it.

"Leave, Avery, before I start trying to humiliate you. That's not to say you haven't done a brilliant job by yourself already though." She moved another pawn forward, transforming it into a queen. "Check, Fabian." Avery was gearing up for a spell. Lily twirled her wand once again and prayed like hell it would work.

"_Defod—_"

"_Silencio,_" she murmured, afraid that if she spoke it properly she'd cast the spell on everyone. "_Petrificus Totalus._"

Avery thudded to the ground, causing most of the crowd to laugh. Alice, however turned worried eyes to Lily.

"_Defodio_, he was about to say. Lily, he was going to drill a hole through you!" she hissed.

"He's an idiot," Lily replied softly. "It wouldn't have worked."

Dorcas was humming a tune under her breath, preparing to sing.

"Dorcas, don't," Lily said. "He's already made a spectacle out of himself, he doesn't need you to castrate him." The last thing she wanted was for people to think she couldn't look after herself.

Dorcas pouted, but stopped humming.

Talyn lurched forward suddenly, grabbing a hold of Lily's shoulder. "Spell!"

So shocked was the redhead at hearing Talyn yell, she reacted too slowly as a member of the crowd shoved through. "_Praefoco!_"

To choke.

Immediately Lily felt phantom hands close around her throat, squeezing hard enough to bruise, harder. Her own hands scrabbled at her neck, trying desperately to loosen a hold that could not be loosened as memories swamped her.

"_Let her go! Let her go let her go let her _go!_" Liberty cried from the top of the stairs as Lily struggled against the Death Eater's hold._

"Crucio!_"_

"_No!" The raw shriek tore itself from Lily's throat as the Unforgivable hit Libby and she went down screaming. "_NO!_" She could feel her magic building, pulsing under her skin, searching for an outlet._

"Praefoco."

_Something _ripped_ and a woman's exuberant laughter filled Lily's ears as she started to die._

"_FINITE INCANTATUM!_" someone roared, and suddenly she could breathe again. Lily fell to the ground and retched, once, twice, shuddering. She saw Potter and Black advancing on Mulciber, who was being held down by Gid and Fab while Talyn pulled back her hair as she retched again. Alice had her wand levelled at Avery, the _Finite _having broken the body bind on him and Dorcas was singing.

The world hazed around the edges and grey faded to black.

_.:Of Chess And Strangulation:._

"_Run, girls! Go!" Anjika Patil screamed from the clutches of the Death Eaters. "There's nothing you can do here, leave!"_

_Liberty, wild-eyed with fear, charged out into the room. _

"_Libby, no!" Lily cried from her hiding place._

"_Let my mother go!"_

"Crucio._" _

_More screaming. A masked face appeared in front of Lily's eyes. She spat at it and started hollering abuse._

"Praefoco._"_

Lily jerked out of the nightmare, sweating profusely. A small hand pushed her gently backwards and another started to stroke her hair.

"Miss Evans. It's Madam McKinnon. You're in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Mr. Avery attempted to cast the Drilling Spell and Mr. Mulciber succeeded in casting a Choking Curse at you and you fainted. Do you remember?"

The redhead closed her eyes and relaxed, letting the medi-witch's soft brogue wash over her. "I remember," she rasped. Her throat was raw.

"Good. Mulciber has been expelled and Avery suspended. You suffered no lasting damage, but there are bruises on your throat and I will keep you overnight for observation."

Lily coughed, and was handed a glass of water. "Where – where are Alice and Talyn?"

"If you look to your left, Miss Evans, I assure you that you shall find them." There was more than a hint of humour to the woman's voice.

"Oh." And she did look left and there was Alice, scowling as she did when she was upset and Talyn, face impassive.

Lily burst into tears.

_.:Of Chess And Strangulation:._

_Alright, Lily's personality is going to take a drastic change here from the original For Truth. I'm trying to make her a little softer, less Empress of Ice-ish. You'll also find that James is less mature, Remus a tad more cowardly and Sirius darker, but less angsty in my endeavour to keep he characters…well, in character. Dorcas Meadowes, however, shall probably be more flamboyant and tart-ish than ever, in celebration of the fact that I can now talk about sex almost as candidly as she can. Lol._

_I hope you enjoyed, and please review!._


	8. Tomorrow We Die

_BOO YAAH! Lol, EXAMS ARE OVER! Thanks so much for being so awfully patient while I bummed around with my future (turns out you need science to be a teacher, even if you're not going to teach science. I'm fucked)_

_Actually, if anyone could help me with my future career dilemma, it'd be much appreciated. It'd be even better if you were from NZ, but right now I'll take what I can get. I want to teach Classical Studies or some variation on that, either at High School or, more preferably, Uni._

_And it was a long time ago, but I'm fond of bragging, so here I shall announce to all of you that, once again, I won my school's creative writing competition. Yay!_

_Chapter Seven!_

_.:Tomorrow We Die:._

The tears stopped almost as soon as they started. Inside, Lily was screaming at herself, but outwardly she merely sniffed and rubbed at her face.

"I'm sorry, I don't—"

"Stress, probably," Alice remarked sardonically. Lily nodded, knowing no one in the room believed her and not caring.

She turned to the medi-witch. "May I leave now, Madam McKinnon?" she enquired, politely enough.

The Scottish woman pursed her lips. "No, Miss Evans. I don't think so."

"_What?_" she burst out despite herself. "But—"

"Your magic, Miss Evans, should have regained some semblance of control by now. Especially considering the way you value it so. Yet when I checked, it was still raw and untamed."

Alice frowned. "Last time this happened, didn't she settle down after a week or so?"

"Yes, Miss Whitburn, but that is because her limit reset itself. There is currently no limit on Miss Evans' magic at this point in time, so it remains uncontrolled."

"Great. How am I supposed to learn anything this year if I can't even perform a Levitating Charm without worry that I'm going to send someone through the roof?" Lily exclaimed. Her magic wasn't the only thing that was raw – strangulation would do that to a person's voice.

"Oh, not to worry, Miss Evans, there's a way around every problem if one only thinks about it," Madam McKinnon said gaily. "Now, I would suggest that for now you use wandless magic only, at least until your limit resets."

Alice frowned. Lily caught it and rolled her eyes. Madam McKinnon saw it as well.

"Miss Whitburn, you should know by now that a wand only enhances a person's natural magic. It's just a focus, a crutch. Wandless magic isn't quite as powerful, but in the case of Miss Evans, I rather think it will be enough."

"Madam McKinnon, I've been using wandless magic for the last year competently. I hardly see why there's a need for me to stay here overnight."

"I was quite finished, Miss Evans," the medi-witch said mildly. Lily blushed, looking down. "I examined your mind once again, and the inconsistencies in your memories there do not appear to be caused by natural repression."

"You mean—"

"Obliviation," Madam McKinnon. "And an incomplete one at that. Generally you would have been told exactly what to remember in place of the real memory and your mind would have accepted it to fill the hole left by the spell. Mental repression means you simply forgot the events ever happened. You, however, appear to have several different versions of that night running around in that head of yours, and your mind isn't sure which one is right."

Lily was shaking with anger now. "Someone – someone Obliviated me. Me" Her mind was hers. It belonged to only her, and no one else was allowed in it bar Madam McKinnon. And only she because Lily still hadn't recovered from her first limit break.

The bed started shaking with her. Drawers opened, cupboards slammed and Alice ducked as a vase came flying at her head.

"_Me_," the red-head hissed, fire blooming from the scar on her left wrist and twisting a blaze up her arm and down the other.

"_Aguamenti_," Talyn cast softly, so softly Lily almost didn't hear her over the rage boiling in her mind.

_Fffsssst._ Steam billowed out as the fire _ate_ the water, but the icy temperature was enough to shock Lily out of it. She held her breath, recalling what live steam could do to a person's lungs even as she struggled with her magic.

When she opened her eyes (sometime during the whole experience she'd shut them), three slightly smouldering people were glaring down at her and her bedding had been reduced to ash.

"And _this_, Miss Evans, would be why I wish for you to stay overnight."

_.:Tomorrow We Die:._

"Hoo boy," Gideon took a few steps back as he caught the look on Dorcas' face.

"Don't, Gid, I'm not in the mood," the Head Girl snapped. She was sitting down on one of the couches in the Common Room she shared with the Head Boy. Her hands rested lightly on her knees, fingers moving lightning-fast across a piano only she could see. Her face softened. "Sorry. I'm just—"

"Worried, not sorry," he corrected. "You never apologise."

She smirked at him. "That's right, isn't it." It wasn't a question.

The Head Boy flopped down onto couch next to her and grabbed a hold of her hands, tugging her towards him. She flopped easily against him, showing just how worried she really was. Pliable was not a word often associated with Dorcas.

"She'll be fine," he said softly. "You know that. She always is."

Dorcas shut her eyes, letting him run calloused hands through her hair. He'd always loved her hair. "Didn't you see the look on her face, Gid? I don't think I've ever even begun to imagine that expression before. How does someone come back from that?"

"Well, either they do or they don't." Her head moved slightly as he shrugged. "And if anyone could do it, it'd be Evans."

"Hmm." Dorcas rolled that one around her head. "It…it makes me think about death. That look. It was like she'd died and just didn't know it yet." The Head Girl shuddered. "I hate that."

"Are you afraid of death, Dorcas?"

The question blindsided her. "_Carpe diem_," she muttered under her breath before taking in a deep, shuddering breath. "Yes."

She wasn't meant to be. She was Dorcas Meadowes, damn it all, who danced with Death, laughing in the face of Voldemort and living each day like it was her last.

_No one need know it's because I'm terrified that it _is.

Dorcas forced herself to look up into Gideon's summer blue eyes. She didn't care what people said, they were entirely different from Fabian's. Maybe it was just because Gideon knew her inside out, whereas Fabian was concentrating on Lily.

"Eat, drink and make merry, for tomorrow we die," he whispered, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.

Oh. _Oh_. Dorcas knew exactly what he was offering.

And she was all too willing to take it.

Her hands curled up his and anchored at his neck, pulling him back down.

_.:Tomorrow We Die:._

Lily folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at Madam McKinnon. "See?" The 'I told you so' went unsaid. "Everything's fine. May I leave?"

"Everything is _not_ fine, Miss Evans but yes you may leave. I will, however, expect you back here in a week's time for a check up."

"And the week after that and the week after that, I suppose?"

The medi-witch smiled at her. "You catch on quick, my dear. Now, run along."

The girl choked. "Run _along_?"

"Oh? Would you rather stay?"

Grumbling under her breath, the prefect realised she'd been beaten. Even so, she thanked the woman before making her way over to the doors.

_:Hmph.:_

Lily blinked, looking around. "Did you say something, Madam McKinnon?"

"Pardon? No, my dear. Weren't you eager to be leaving only a scant few seconds ago?"

"Ah…yes. Yes of course. Have a good day, Madam Mckinnon."

The woman winked. "Of course, Miss Evans."

_Now I'm hearing voices. This year just can't get any worse._

Lily stifled a yawn as she headed for the Great Hall. She'd get her bag later – any half-baked excuse would get her out a detention. Lily hadn't spent the last five years as a teacher's pet for nothing.

"Hey, look, it's Evans!"

"…Evans…"

"Lily Evans…"

"Empress of Ice."

"I heard she…"

"No way! But what about when…"

"…thought she was dead?"

"Nah, it's Evans! I don't think she _can_ die."

"Idiot, of course she can. Although…"

Twitch.

She should have expected it. Rumours followed her in the wizarding world wherever she went and there had been quite the gathering the day before. But for some reason, Lily thought that maybe people would have found their own lives to take interest in.

She swayed slightly. The voices were starting to overwhelm her, all of them crowding in her mind at one time until—

A strong arm curled around her waist. "Oi you lot, leave off would you? Can't you see the Empress wants some alone time with me."

Hot anger seared through her veins, clearing her head as she twisted out of James Potter's hold and punched him in the nose. "Get your hands off me, Potter. I'd rather not catch your stupidity, if it's all the same."

"The Empress strikes again," Dorcas drawled loudly from the Ravenclaw table.

"Nice try, Potter!"

"Yeah, good job Potter!"

And suddenly the attention was off her and on the boy lying at her feet, gingerly testing his nose.

"Miss Evans!"

_Oh, bugger._

_:Stupid.:_

"Eh?" But the only person close enough to whisper was Potter, and the voice was distinctly feminine.

"I'm sorry, Professor Slughorn, but he was touching me inappropriately," Lily said sweetly as the Potions professor waddled over.

"Hmm? Oh, no, no, I'm sure it was well deserved. No, I was wanting to ask about the Slug Club. Our first meeting will be in—"

She waved him off. "Oh, Professor Slughorn I fear I'm feeling rather faint. I don't think I've eaten since yesterday on the train – you wouldn't mind having this conversation later, would you?"

"Of course not, my dear girl! Very well, very well, you go and get some food into you and we shall speak later." He laughed that irritating laugh and waddled back to the teacher's table.

Lily shook her head, stepped over Potter who was milking his pain for all his worth and headed for the seat between Alice and Talyn.

"God, he is insufferable," she moaning, flopping onto the bench.

Talyn stared at her. "Who?"

"Potter, of course," Alice yawned, dropping her spoon back into her porridge and shoving her fringe out of her eyes. It flopped right back into place. "He did just stop her from collapsing in front of near the entire school, after all. What's not to hate?"

"I was not about to collapse," the red-head hissed at her best friend. "I'm just – tired."

"Of course."

"And what are you doing, sticking up for Potter? He embarrassed me, as you said, in front of the entire school."

"And you punched him in the nose," Alice pointed out. "I'd say you're fair equal now." She looked speculatively up at the ceiling, wrinkling her nose at the clouds there. "Although, I'm mildly astonished at his subtlety, He managed to save you from embarrassing _yourself _and made it seem that he was just being a prick and chatting you up."

"Ever think that maybe he _was_ being a prick and just chatting me up?" Lily shot back, pouring herself a glass of orange juice. She glanced sideways and out of the corner of her eye watched Black haul Potter to his feet and slug him in the shoulder. Potter flicked his wand and Black was sporting a crop of wildly pink hair.

"Why is it always the hair with that lot?" Alice remarked, having seen it as well.

"Pardon?" Lily pretended she hadn't been watching.

"Don't."

Both Lily and Alice turned to stare at Talyn.

"Hmm?" Alice enquired around a mouthful of porridge.

"Lie Lily. Don't lie."

"I wasn't!" she exclaimed, shocked.

Talyn shrugged elegantly and turned back to her coffee.

_.:Tomorrow We Die:._

Alice scowled darkly as her friends pushed away her half-drunk glass of orange juice and stood up. She grabbed a hold of the sleeves of her robes and tugged her down.

"Oh, no you don't," she growled. "I refuse to let you leave, Miss Evans, until you've eaten at least two pieces of toast.'

Lily hit her seat with a thump and glared at the blonde. "I'm fine."

"You're _not_. Look, it was all well and good when you were at home doing nothing but run on adrenaline and lie in bed, but you're here now. You don't think people are going to notice you're almost half the size you were last year?"

"I'm not half the size," she protested.

"It bloody well looks it!" Alice yelled back. A few interested heads turned their way, but at the combined death glares of Lily and Alice and Talyn's apathetic stare they decided it wasn't that interesting after all. In a lower tone, Alice said, "I know you're a magical genius or whatever Lily, but magic takes energy, and if you don't eat something you're going to end up collapsing and James Potter won't always be around to stop you. Imagine that," she finished, somewhat mockingly. "Lily Evans, Empress of Ice, felled by two pieces of toast. Plus, you still have to get your timetable from McGonagall."

"Alright, alright, I get it," Lily muttered, dragging the toast rack towards her and selecting two barely charred pieces. "By god, but you've got the will of a sledgehammer, Alice."

"I know," she sighed happily, grinning at her friend.

"Here." Talyn pushed the butter towards Lily as she went to take a bite. "Use it."

"Hmm?"

"Elsewise you'll die of dehydration," she said softly. "And wouldn't _that_ be embarrassing." The girl blinked. "I never realised toast could be so dangerous."

Both Lily and Alice stared at their friend.

"I think that's the most words I've ever heard her say in one go," Alice murmured sideway. _She must be really worried._

"One go? I think she just used up her quota for the whole day," Lily replied, just as quietly. Talyn was _scary_ when offended.

"Say Lily?"

"Yes?"

"Is elsewise a word?"

"Honestly? When it comes to Talyn, I don't think it matters."

"Miss Whitburn."

"_Holy_ Merlin on a stick!" the blonde gasped.

McGonagall raised her eyebrows at the oath, but didn't comment on it.

"Uh…Professor McGonagall," Alice muttered at her feet. "I um…didn't see you there."

"Apparently not," the Deputy Headmistress replied tartly. Nonetheless, her lips twitched slightly. "Your timetable, Miss Whitburn. Good choices. I presume you still wish to be an Auror?"

"Of course."

"Then I suggest you bring you Potions and Charms mark up. And 'E' s good, but it is not an 'O'."

"No," Alice replied, trying desperately not to clench her teeth. "It's not."

McGonagall smiled slightly, tapping a piece of parchment and handing it to Alice. "Miss Whitburn."

"Thank you." _Bloody terrifying teacher-person._

_.:Tomorrow We Die:._

Lily grinned at the look on Alice's face and pushed her plate, still with a piece of toast on it, as far away from her as she possiblycould without magic. Only to have it mutely pushed back at her but a blank-faced Talyn.

"Eat," she commanded.

There was no going against that voice. Scowling once again, Lily picked up the toast and sunk her teeth into it.

"Miss Evans?"

Lily hastily swallowed her mouthful, chasing it down with a gulp of juice. "Yes, Professor?

The older witch seemed to hesitate. "Are you—"

"Perfectly fine, Professor," she replied coolly.

_:Old bat. Powerful though.:_

Lily choked.

McGonagall looked at her suspiciously. "You have applied for out of class tuition, I see."

"I strive but for excellence, Professor."

"Of course," she murmured. "I must remind you, however, that if it appears you cannot handle the extra load, I have the power to take away the privilege of your one-on-one tuition. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Lily replied tightly, wincing at both her tone and her cliché reply.

McGonagall softened. "I do this for your own good, Lily. You understand?"

"I do, Professor, but in a few months I will have come of age. One would like to think I have a say in my own life."

With as sad, enigmatic smile, the Deputy Headmistress tapped a piece of parchment and handed it to the red-head. "One would. And yet."

_.:Tomorrow We Die:._

_I've done something that was quite possibly not very smart and now I have four stories to update. So, from this post, it goes:_

_For Truth_

_The Stage_

_Reset_

_Lessons In Sociability_

_Although I may update Lessons more than once in a row because the chapters are so short (700 words on average) and so much fun to write._

_Anyway, yay, update! Hope you enjoyed! _


	9. Make Believe

_Okay, this may seem very bad of me, but I have no idea how many classes the characters are meant to be taking in sixth or seventh year. Hp Lexicon tells me that in fifth year they have eight (suckers! I only have six!). If no one else knows I think I'll just make it six, but I'd like to have the facts right. I know in sixth year Harry and Ron drop Divination which brings them down to seven, but I can't remember if they drop Herbology or not._

_Also, she who was Gemma is now Mary. I think that's about it. Chapter 08!_

_.:Make Believe:._

Time passed quicker then it had a right to and Lily's life didn't show any improvements. The memories that had been covered by the _Oblivio_ teased her, tantalizing, just out of her reach. She woke up every night at precisely three o'clock, from nightmares that were different every time but all ended the same.

_Praefoco._

"Shit-fucker-god-damn-_hell_," Lily whispered under her breath, glancing over at the bedside table. Three o'clock on the dot.

Lily rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe away the remnants of the nightmare. She couldn't even remember what this one was about, but the pressure of phantom hands lingered about her throat. She rubbed it idly, shifting about to find a more comfortable position and nearly losing her mind in fear when she saw a dark shadow leaning over her.

"You said you would handle it," Talyn said simply.

"I _am _handling it," Lily growled under her breath. "Go back to bed before you wake the others."

The quiet girl gave her a look that said it all and held out a small vial. Vaguely Lily could make out some sort of liquid swirling around in it.

"I'm not taking a sleeping draught," she protested. "I told you, I'm fighting this on my own. If I take the potion now, I'll lose any chance of getting my memory back."

"Delay," Talyn corrected.

"In this situation, it's the same difference!" Lily hissed. "Talyn, the person waking up every night from pathetic nightmares is _weak_. She lacks control and – and she's just not _right_. I need those memories. I need the person who was really there that night, not the shell who succumbed after a simple _Praefoco._"

"You are not weak, Lily." Talyn's black eyes glinted in the starlight.

"Yes, well, right now I'm not Lily, so where does that leave me?" she asked bitterly. As she suspected, Talyn had no answer.

There was a soft clink as the raven-haired teen set the vial on Lily's bedside table.

"Drink the potion."

_.:Make Believe:._

"Lily, Miss Evans, my dear beautiful Flower." Fabian grinned at her. "How are you?"

Said dear beautiful Flower pointed at the nearest suit of armour. "They are _singing _to me, Fabian! _Singing!_"

The grin widened. "Really? I can't—"

"Mock me further, Prewett, and you will find yourself inside one of those wretched things." It was a rather pathetic threat, but Lily was busy running through her mental catalogue of spells to care much. Was there nothing to counter something on so large a scale?

"I've no need to be wearing metal clothes to sing your praises, Miss Evans," Fabian replied. "Incidentally, there's no counter to the spell. It should wear off in a day or so."

Lily stared at him in abject horror. "A…a day or so?" she whispered.

"Well, well, well, what have we here? Students wandering around after hours? Would you happen to be the cause of this disturbance, Lily-ducks?" Dorcas Meadowes _loomed_.

Lily shrieked, jumping back into Fabian's chest. His arms snaked around her and she could _feel_ the grin in his voice. "Ta, Mother D."

"Get off me," Lily grumbled, shrugging his arms off. "We're coming back from Slug Club and – why do I have to explain myself? We're Prefects."

"And I'm Head Girl," Dorcas pointed out. "Doesn't stop me from being nosy." She looked around at the singing suits of armour. "Shakespeare! It's not really made for singing, but really. I had no idea Potter was so cultured." She hummed the pathetic melody appreciatively then stopped. "Oh, dear. That really is awful, isn't it? Now, Miss Evans, other then being tailed by rather sad attempts at wooing you, how's life."

Lily blinked. "It's half-nine in the evening, we're standing in a corridor filled with singing scrap heaps, and you ask me how I am."

"I can't very well offer you tea now, can I darling? But truly, Talyn's been making noises – scared the life out of me, that one did, I wasn't aware she spoke more than five words a week. But I digress."

"Talyn should be minding her own business," Lily clipped coldly. Behind her, Fabian made a slight noise of surprise at her tone. "As should you, Dorcas."

Not daunted in the slightest, the Head Girl merely winked at her. "My dear, after five years and two weeks in the same school as me, one would assume you would have realised by now that _everything_ is my business." She paused. "Good Merlin, but that was a mouthful."

"I have Potter's to slaughter," Lily said abruptly. "Good night, Dorcas." She started to walk away.

"Is it?" the Head Girl replied liltingly. "No, Fabian, leave her. If she's going to be a prissy little twit, she can walk herself back to the tower."

_.:Make Believe:._

"Whassat?" James yawned, flopping into the armchair next to Sirius. The embers of the Common Room fire flickered feebly.

"Letter from my parents."

"The usual?"

"Tad more this time. That idiot I call brother obviously sent a letter home about how I'd been 'fraternising with Mudbloods', as it says here. I wasn't aware that turning half of Miss Evans' hair gold so as to match her to our house colours was considered fraternising, but there you go. And there's the usual list of who to stay away from of course, with particular emphasis on Miss Meadowes. Mother took the falling out between our families _so_ hard." Sirius bared his teeth. "Shame that."

"You're not going to _listen _to her, are you?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Fear not, Prongsie. Evans' hair shall continue turning a myriad of colours until the day I die. You know, you're being spectacularly oblivious today. That there was what we educated fellows call sarcasm."

"Oh, shut up," James grumbled. "I've been thinking about—"

"Don't strain yourself," Sirius chortled.

"Har har," James drawled. "I hope that's not what you educated fellows call wit, because it was a rather pathetic attempt."

"What, no exclamations of my prickish station? Shocking."

"Is prickish even a word?"

"I think it says more about you that you don't know than me for using it, Potter."

"Hn. Does Peter still have the Map?"

"He thinks he does."

James shook his head, grinning. "You really should stop doing that to him, mate. He near wets the bed every time."

"It's his fault for being so thick as to not realise it's me again," Sirius retorted, pulling out said Map. "But before I give it to you, what do you want it for?"

"It's a quarter mine as well, Pads!" James protested.

"Possession is nine-tenths of the law," his friend replied airily. "Ah, doesn't matter anyway. I can guess what you're after. Evans still hasn't come back and you're worried, you lovesick twat." He tapped the map with his wand and said the ritual words. After a moments pause, a remarkably evil smile spread across his lips. "The lovely Miss Evans appears to be headed our way at top speed, Prongs. Don't worry, I'll make sure you have a splendid funeral."

"What are you on about?"

"Heh. You'll see." He tossed the map to James and stood. "I'm off before the explosion hits, mate. Good luck."

The Fat Lady swung outward and Lily Evans herself burst through the resulting hole in the wall. She looked around the Common Room, spotted the two boys and pierced them with Death Glare No.2.

"I am going to murder you, Potter," she stated, every inch of her apparently twitching with rage. "Twice."

"Right, that's my cue!" Sirius announced, turning to flee. Lightning fast, James shot out an arm and grabbed him, tugging him back.

"If I go down, Black, so do you. Especially as I've a feeling this is all your fault."

"Singing. Suits. Of armour," Lily ground out. "Everywhere."

James turned to Sirius. "You bastard."

"Hey, you said it would be a good idea!"

"I didn't _mean_ it, you prat! We were joking around. We were _drunk._ How did you even remember?"

Sirius tapped his head. "Memory like an elephant."

Lily cleared her throat. Both boys turned to her and fear struck their hearts at the look on her face.

"Kindly hold still," she said, voice sweet enough and eyes like green death. "So that I can castrate you properly. Assuming, of course, that there is anything there to _remove_."

"Why is it always the balls?" James bemoaned before darting behind Sirius. "Human shield!"

"You have a wand for that!" Sirius roared, desperately trying to get away. They scrabbled about a bit making various pathetic noises until Lily came to a sudden halt and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, do stop the both of you. You sound like little girls."

The 'little girl' closest to Lily opened one of 'her' eyes a crack. "You – you're not going to hurt us?"

"Of course not. I've got what I needed. _Finite Incantatum_,"

Sirius opened his eyes the rest of the way. James was still cowering behind him, thinking it too good to be true.

It was.

"That, incidentally, was the end of a recording spell. It does visuals as well as audio. Guess what's going to be replacing the sky in the Great Hall tomorrow morning?"

James finally opened his eyes. "You lie."

"Often," Lily agreed. "Unfortunately for the two of you, not at this particular moment. Now, disappear."

James fled.

_.:Make Believe:._

Sirius raised an eyebrow as Lily sighed, shoving her hair back off her forehead and dumping herself right in front of the fire. She didn't appear to realise he was still there as she frowned down at her wrist. Sirius blinked inadvertently and when his eyes opened a spilt second later the fire was blazing with no sign as to how is got that way.

"Go away, Black," the red-head girl murmured. "I'm not in the mood for your idiocy."

"Evans, you're never in the mood for any idiocy," he pointed out. "In fact, you've got a real stick up your—"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm touched in the head, I'm screwed up, I'm all over the bloody place I _get_ it. Listen, Black, it's enough having to listen to my friends harp on day after day after goddamn day. I don't need people like you doing it as well."

"What, no castration threat?" he said lightly, dropping into the chair nearest her bit of floor. "I'm hurt. You're losing your—"

"Shut _up_, Black," she hissed, and there was a tone to his voice that told Sirius it probably would be a good idea.

So, of course, he kept talking.

"I've seen the way you've been treating those friend of yours by the way, and damn, you're lucky to still have them Evans. You're a right little cow when you want to be."

She stood and turned to face him, eyes blazing. "What would you have me do, Black? Tell me, because everyone else sure is, what is it that _you_ would have me be, hmm?"

He yawned, leaning back. "Merlin, but you're touchier than usual. I was just making a bloody comment. You don't have to bite my head off for it. You could be a hippogriff for all I care." He paused. "Actually, scratch that, I get the feeling you'd maul me as soon as possible."

She stared at him. "You truly are an idiot."

He grinned. "Ah, but I do such a good job of it. Look at that, the corners of your mouth. That's a smile there, innit?"

It was indeed. It disappeared as soon as she realised, but Sirius considered it a job well done nonetheless.

"Right, your Imperial Majesty, you sit down here and mope. I'd say enjoy yourself, but the two rather cross each other out, don't they? So, be miserable here by yourself, because I am going to bed." He stood and headed towards the staircase to the boys dorm.

"Sirius." Her voice stopped him. He looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

"My, that's a change. Lily?"

She blushed, realising exactly what she'd called him, but soldiered on anyway. "You're not…"

Sirius smirked as she trailed off, obviously unsure of how to phrase what she wanted to say. "I have no expectations of you whatsoever," he confirms.

It was mildly astonishing to see the look of relief that spread of her face then. It was gone in an instant, of course, but it had definitely been there.

_Merlin, she's got no bloody self-esteem whatsoever. Seeking validation from other people. Sad, sad little girl._

She glared. "Stop giving me that look, Black. You look almost as if you care."

"Who says I don't?" he replied whimsically.

She gaped, and it was a beautiful sight to behold. Sirius started laughing.

"Oh, that is just brilliant! The Empress of Ice with her mouth hitting the floor."

She picked up a stool and threw it at him.

_.:Make Believe:._

_Harry Potter fandom is starting to scare me. I've been out of the loop for so long that I'm afraid, should I venture into is again I'm going to stumble across some horrific Regulus/Kreacher slash and have to sear my eyeballs out or something._

_Needless to say, it's daunting._

_Yes, I have indeed cut out Sir Black's mummy issues. Well, not really, but you shall find no pathetic wimperings nor mentions of Unforgivables here. Well, here in this chapter. Those of you who have read the original will know that it gets rather gruesome as we go one._

_I'm reluctant to include Snape as much as I said I was. He's really not that important until later chapters (chapters that we didn't even reach in the original), although he does definitely become more prominent in For Love and even more so in the third book (named, but unknown to all but Anje, who doesn't care anyway. Actually, I highly doubt you lot really care for the name either, but I like to pretend you do."_

_My god, that's a huge author's note. I'll leave it there, then, with the ritual begging for reviews, kay?_


	10. The Black Truth

_Did you know I've already got the last line of the last story in the Lupa trilogy written? It's incredibly bittersweet, that line. And I also have the first chapter of the series that comes _after_ this written as well. So, other than loving this story dearly, I have motivation to finish because I can't post the Albus Severus Potter arc until the trilogy is finished._

_I know my updates for this are slow, but that's mostly because I spend a great deal more time writing these chapters than I do for my other fics. Not because my other fics mean less to me but because this one is so epic, it's harder to keep everything in my mind at once, so I have to concentrate harder._

_I'm not so good at the concentrating thing._

_Anyway, chapter 09! I hope you enjoy!_

_.:The Black Truth:._

"Lily, this isn't a game! By Merlin's saggy left testicle, take the potion!" Alice yelled.

"For the last time, Alice, I do not need a potion! Forgive me if I'm not willing to rely on addictive compounds to achieve what I'm perfectly capable of doing on my own!"

"It has been months," the blonde growled. "If you can't admit that you need help, you're touched in the – Lily! Lily, don't you dare walk away from me! Lily Ann Evans!"

"_You are not my mother!_" the red-head screamed, hair flying as she whipped around. "And I am not your pet project," she hissed, rage flaring death green in her eyes. "Find something else to fix, Alice, because I – am – not – broken."

_.: The Black Truth:._

Lily scowled down at the sketchbook on her knees as shadow fell over it. She was leaning against an old, gnarled tree and someone was blocking her light.

"Skipping class, Black?" she enquired, deliberately smudging a crooked line. "How incredibly…shocking."

The boy flopped down next to her, grinning. "Right swot, aren't you? It's only History of Magic and you know how Binns goes. He'll cycle around to Barnabas the Barmy in a month or so. And you're not one to talk, I don't recall you having any free periods this year."

She turned away from her drawing of the lake to look at him. "You know my schedule?" A pause. "My god, you're not in love me as well are you?"

Black blinked and then burst into rich laughter. "Merlin, no! Not to fear, Evans, I shan't be travelling that road. But after having Prongs parrot your bloody timetable at me for the last three weeks I'm afraid such small details have been imbedded forever into the depths of my brain."

"You sound like Dorcas Meadowes at her best – or worst, as it were."

"I wouldn't say it was that well done, but she does tend to rub off on a lad, doesn't she?" he winked. "In more ways than one."

"Don't be so crass. One Dorcas is nearly too much. Although I daresay you'd look fabulous in the right sort of gown. What are you doing here?"

"Of course I would, I look fabulous in anything," he announced with a toss of his head. Despite herself, Lily giggled. "Actually, there are a few photos of me in some rather suspect dress robes that my family forced me into a few years back, but we don't speak of that day anymore." He winked. "As for why I'm here, let's just say I'm terribly bored."

The girl returned to her sketch. "Well, go away then. I know the sort of thing that happens when you get bored, Black, and I've no wish to be a part of it."

"No I suspect you won't."

"Don't, not won't. The latter suggests that you will actually involve me which, as I said, I've no wish to—"

Black leaned back against the tree and turned his head towards her. "What happened that night? To Liberty Patil?"

It was almost frightening, seeing how she reacted. Sirius watched, intrigued, as what appeared to be every bone in Evans' body stiffened for a split-second before she relaxed entirely, returning to her sketch once again.

"I don't know what you mean," she said, calm enough. Her hand was shaking slightly.

"I'm certain you do," Sirius replied easily.

"No, I'm certain I _don't_," Evans spat out from behind clenched teeth.

He settled against the tree again, eyes glancing sideways at her even though his head was facing the lake. "I don't care, you know."

Her hand steadied slightly. "Then why did you ask?"

"Oh? So you admit something did happen then."

"I admit nothing."

"Hmm." A pause. "We're terribly alike, you know." Sirius grinned as she swore down at the sketchpad where her hand had rocketed off the page, leaving a thick grey line.

"We are nothing alike, Black."

"'Course we are. You with your high morals and me with no morals and yet we seem to coincide fairly often. For a start, you've not yet sent me away."

There was silence as the red-head drew her way around the accidental mark, blending it into the drawing.

"You ask what happened," she said finally. "But you don't care for the answer. You've no wish to fix me or to adore me or to do anything with me whatsoever."

"Except torment your hair."

"You really are a prick," she remarked conversationally.

"So I've been told."

Sirius frowned. There was an odd charge in the air, almost as if—

"No, you _really_ are a prick." The girl stood, slamming her sketchbook on the ground as she did so. Flames sparked at her left wrist although she didn't seem to notice, concentrating as she was on impaling him upon her wand.

"I tremble in fear," he drawled.

"How dare you? How _dare_ you? Is this just a game to you or something Black? Is this—"

"Oh, do shut up," he grumbled, irritated. He had hoped for a reaction a tad less predictable, but he appeared to be out of luck. "As I said, Miss Evans, I'm bored out of my skull and you looked to be fair game. So I thought, why not kill three birds with the one stone to alleviate both my boredom and my curiosity and also to prove to myself that you really are the selfish tart I've always thought. Great Merlin, I almost feel like I have the moral high ground here." He stood as well, half a foot taller than her five-six. "Well, with the exception of antagonising you for my own amusement," he added.

She was shaking with rage, the fire at her wrist sparking hotter. "How—"

"Dare I? My, Evans, you are repetitive today. To be quite honest, I dare nothing. All I'm stating is the horrible truth." He inspected his nails. It was quite possible she would lose control and curse him into oblivion, but this was just too much fun to pass up.

"You sicken me," she spat. "You expect people to bow down to your every whim just because you're the tortured son of the House of Black. You expect—"

He smirked. "And hypocritical too! This is better than I'd hoped!" His voice turned dark. "I've no expectations of anyone, Evans. If people are willing to do as I ask, who am I to contest them? You, however expect everyone to do as you will because you are Lily Evans. You rely on other people to validate yourself, people like Liberty Patil who pull you down so you can feel worthy, you—"

"Why are you doing this?" she shrieked, tossing her wand to the ground, next to her sketchbook. The flames were gone. "_Why!_"

He looked her up and down, the Empress of Ice no longer.

"Because, Evans, I'm the only one who doesn't care."

_.: The Black Truth:._

"What did you do?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow at Fabian Prewett – or rather, Fabian Prewett's wand. Then he rolled his eyes. "Bloody hell, not you too. Do you realise I've been accosted by no less than three people on the way back to the Common Room? Has Evans never heard the story of the Boy Who Cried Werewolf?"

"She didn't say anything. News travels fast in this school."

"Oh, you mean gossip? So tell me then, why is it exactly that you wish to castrate and or defenestrate and or turn me into the literal slime ball that I figuratively appear? How's your mother, by the way?"

Prewett's eyes iced over. "You dare—"

Sirius threw up his hands. "By Merlin, what is it with that? Is the collective intelligence of everyone who loathes me so miniscule that they can only come up with one threat between the lot of them? It's not even a proper bloody threat."

The younger twin lowered his wand and stepped closer. He was an inch shorter than Sirius despite being a year older, yet the Black heir could still feel the dangerous _intent_ rolling off the prefect in waves. "You ought to be careful, Black, or Potter may end up finding out what dear Bella did all those years ago. Or had you forgotten exactly who my mother is before you insulted her?"

"Insulted? I merely enquired as to how—"

Prewett slammed him up against the wall, forearm thrust hard up against his throat. "I know perfectly well what you were intimating," he growled.

"Potter already knows Bella's on that list. Those Death Eaters," Sirius hissed back, hot rage flaring through his veins. This had stopped being fun.

"That wasn't what I was referring to," the Prefect clipped out.

As quickly as his blood had fired up, it cooled, becoming as icy as Prewett's eyes. "You—"

"Fabian, love. Let him down."

Sirius' eyes widened infinitesimally as his captor's face screwed up in recognition.

"Dorcas—"

"Let him _down_, Fabian."

Despite the fact that he was slowly running out of air, Sirius smirked at the younger twin. "Listen to the pretty lady, Fabby."

Prewett punched him in the mouth, cracking his head back against the stone wall.

"Son of a _bitch_," Sirius roared, blood dribbling down his chin.

"Fabian—"

"You're defending him! Why are you defending him?" He was starting to look a little wild around the eyes. "Oh, I see. It's because you're fucking him, isn't it?"

Sirius probably wouldn't have antagonised the older man had he known just how strong he was.

_Fuck, who needs air anyway?_

"And why are you doing this, Prewett? Think that if you act the hero Evans'll fall right in to your b – glugh!"

"You deserved that," Meadowes said calmly as Prewett decided to collapse his larynx.

"I speak but the truth," Sirius managed to croak.

"Merlin's balls, man, do you not know when to shut up?" The Head Girl cried. "And Fabian, you of all people should know what comes before my friends. Let him down."

The other male looked as if he'd been hit by a bolt of lightning. It was an improvement in Sirius opinion, especially as it resulted in the wanker letting go of him. He gasped in deep, dramatic breaths of air, earning himself a disgusted look from Prewett.

"You're lucky Dorcas came," he said softly.

Sirius grinned, wiping the blood from his mouth. "'S not my fault if you don't have the balls to bag Evans," he taunted.

Prewett made a sudden lunge for him, but Meadowes was faster, grabbing him around the waist and hauling back.

"Black, you've a death wish! Fabian, for the love of all things unholy, calm down. Beating the life out of him is not going to fix Lily."

"No, but it'll make me feel better," Fabian snarled.

Somehow, Meadowes managed to swat him over the head without letting him go to attack Sirius. "Oh, do shut up. And as I said calm down. Or else I'll tell Gid."

Sirius hadn't been aware that was so great a threat but he filed it away for later use as it caused the younger twin to slowly relax.

"I'll not forget."

"I've no doubt," Sirius replied, still grinning as Prewett walked away. As soon as he was out of sight, he turned to Meadowes. "Well?"

"I'm not happy with you," was all she said.

He blinked. "Why on earth not?"

She stared, sapphire eyes boring into him.

"Bloody hell, you too? Damn, the lot of you will let Evans do whatever she wants but when I decide to have a little fun you break out the castration threats."

"Oh, I wouldn't castrate you Black, I'm far too interested in that part of your anatomy." Even when angered, it appeared Meadowes just couldn't help herself. "Do you have anything to say for yourself though?"

"I'm afraid I must take the moral high ground," Sirius mourned.

"How can you—"

"Well, at least it wasn't 'how dare you'," he mocked. "I think what you all seem to be forgetting here is that Evans isn't my friend. I'm not overly fond of her and unless she has an entire personality transplant, I doubt I ever shall be. Unfortunately, my best mate has seen feet to fall arse over ankles in love with her. So while personally it's not in my best interests to knock some sense into the silly cow, Prongs will appreciate the ends if not the means which _does_ make it in my best interests if only to get him to shut up for five bloody seconds."

Meadowes appraised him. "You're making it very hard for me to ague with you."

"Oh good."

"That doesn't mean I'm not still extraordinarily displeased at you," she pointed out.

"I would be shocked had you said anything else," he replied gallantly. Deeming the conversation to be at its end he turned away, rubbing his throat.

"Sirius."

He stopped.

"Thank you."

And that was more than worth the purple mark he'd soon have across his neck.

"Is it too early to wear a scarf, do you think?"

_.: The Black Truth:._

_Three days this took. Had it been shorter I would have started on the second chapter and done a double update, but I've other stories to think of so I'm awfully sorry. I'll update The Stage, then Reset with a few prompt challenges in between so if I get my arse into gear, the next update will be posted in a week. Knowing me, however, I wouldn't expect it for another two._

_Sorry!_

_And I leave you here with the ritual begging for reviews. Thanks for reading!_


	11. The White Truth

_This is so weird. Winter in the Northern Hemisphere starts almost a full month after summer starts here in the Southern Hemisphere._

_I hate that. It's bad enough writing winter when it's summer where I am (and no snow. I've only seen snow once in my life and that was half a lifetime ago. I forget), but the seasons start differently. –grumbles–_

_Ah well. Happy reading!_

_.:The White Truth:._

"Lily—"

"It's Evans to you, Snape," she said shortly, speeding up her pace a bit. "What do you want?"

"I heard about what Black did."

"Did you? Because it seems like every other man and his sister heard as well, except that no one really knows what happened. So unless you have a theory that doesn't make me come out a poor tortured victim, bugger off."

"Lily, I know what happened! From the article, I—"

She had stopped walking. "It – is – _Evans_ to you. Snape." She added belatedly.

He wondered vaguely if his heart should have been splattered somewhere on the ground as she started walking away again.

_.:The White Truth:._

"Lily."

"Oh, not you too Alice." The red-head flopped onto her bed and scratched absently at her wrist. Her magic was boiling under her skin.

The blonde sat tentatively on the edge of her bed. "I wasn't going to mention whatever it was that happened with Black. I don't know, so I can't comment. But, uh…if you want me to beat him up, I'm free Tuesdays."

Lily smiled awkwardly, scratching. Had their friendship really come to this?

Alice looked just as awkward as Lily felt. "Hey, um…you know I'm just worried about you, yeah?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Worry about yourself some, Alice. I promise, I'll be fine."

The blonde caught her arm and inspected her wrist. "This scar is tied into your magic, isn't it?"

The red-head nodded.

"It's bigger."

"What?" Startled, Lily ripped the appendage back and looked at it. The triangular scar there had indeed grown, the edges about half an inch in length.

"It's your magic, Lily. You need to use it."

"I have been using it!"

"Not enough, obviously. Your limit still hasn't resettled. I think you're going to need some pretty big magic to get it sorted out."

"Since when were you a medi-witch?" Lily snapped. She caught sight of the mulish look on her friend's face that meant she was hurt but didn't want to show it and sighed. "I didn't mean to snap." Her magic jumped and flames sparked from the scar on her wrist. "I…I'm going to the Forest."

"Lily—"

"Alice, if I try to do any huge magic inside the castle, I'll blow something out. There's too much conflicting energy here." Lily threw herself off the bed and went rummaging in her trunk for her broom. She hated Quidditch but loved flying and had saved for three years before she could afford her Cleansweep Five, the most recent release of the Cleansweep series. Nowhere near the league of the new Nimbus 1500, but better then most other brooms, including the Comet 180 that most pleasure-fliers were using.

Alice looked at the ground. "Just…don't kill yourself, then."

Lily shot her a look and threw the window open. "I'll try my very hardest not to."

She very nearly fell off her broom halfway to the Forest. Her magic could sense her intent and bubbled faster through her veins. Her senses fluctuated and for one terrifying moment she was blind, deaf and dumb.

Then she touched down in the heart of the Forbidden Forest and it backed off, hovering in the corner of her mind like a wave about to crash down.

Lily drew in a deep breath. She knew the theory for this, held in her mind the physical form of her personality. It all came down to whether or not she had the control to pull it off.

_:Lupa:_

She closed her eyes. There was no time to be wondering on the importance of voices in her head that weren't hers. She felt about to burst and if she didn't do something with her magic soon she probably would.

Carefully, she constructed the form in her head. The bone structure, organs, muscles, veins, nerves. Skin and the russet fur, concentrating on getting the muzzle just right and the tail a correct length for balance.

She held it there and slowly, painstakingly released her magic into it.

Bones cracked and turned to fluid and she arched what should have been her back only find that everything was rather confusing and then suddenly she was on all fours on the ground, feeling the dead leaves crunch under her paws and the smell of—

_Prey._

She lifted her nose into the air, caught the scent and tore after it. She savoured the feel of her reconstructed muscles, _bunch release, bunch release_. It was exhilarating and she howled this to the night sky as she ran faster than she ever had before, the prey getting closer and closer and—

There was an unwanted fizzing sensation in her bones. The magic slipped away and her howl turned into a scream of frustration as she _stretched_, elongated back into her human form.

"Bloody _hell_," Lily growled.

She'd made the transformation but hadn't been able to keep it.

"Still not enough control," she muttered, picking her way back through the Forest to where she'd left her broom.

She felt uneasy as she flew back to Gryffindor Tower, like someone was watching her from the inside.

_:Lupa:_

_.:The White Truth:._

Alice was on the window seat when she reached the Tower, obviously waiting for her. The blonde silently unlocked the window and Lily flew in, dropping herself on her bed.

"Feel any better?" Alice enquired finally after waiting for the red-head to speak.

"Sort of. Not particularly." Lily sighed. "I don't know. What did you do?"

"Muse."

"You?"

Alice rolled her eyes, throwing one of the cushions at her. "Hush, you."

Lily caught the cushion and tossed it back. "What was it you were musing about then, hmm?"

The blonde paused, which was enough for Lily to get the gist of it.

"Oh. Libby."

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"Well, excuse me!"

"Don't go getting all offended, Lily. Merlin, but you snap so bloody easy. I don't want to talk about it because I didn't want _you_ getting upset."

"I wouldn't—"

"I got a letter from Storm today," Alice interjected.

Lily grimaced, thrown off track at the thought of Lib's older brother. Their dislike for each other was near legendary at Hogwarts and Lily only maintained a thin veneer of politeness when faced with him for Alice's sake. Although why Alice thought dating a snob like him was a good idea, she didn't know.

"What did he say?" she asked, pretending to be interested.

"He told me he would have written sooner, but he had to set the family's affairs in order. He said to give you his love."

"He didn't."

"The sarcasm was fairly evident, even in letter form. Why are you angry at me?"

Lily frowned, busying herself with looking for a book in her trunk. "I'm not. I just…" She trailed off to gather her thoughts. "Why won't you talk about Lib?"

Alice raised an eyebrow. "Well it couldn't possible be because you freeze up every time her name is mentioned."

"I'm working on it."

"No, you're not."

"_Alice_." The tone of her voice was not one to be argued with. "I can talk about her. I'm not that weak. Look, I'll prove it to you. What was it were you thinking about?"

"I'm not saying. You'll get mad."

Lily laughed and it was so obviously fake. "Tell me."

"I'm not going to tell you!"

"Now who's getting mad?"

"Yes, well, I think I have the right. Not every thought of mine must be shared with you, Lily."

"I'm trying to prove something to you here, Alice. I can't _do_ that if you don't—"

"Fine, you want to know?"

"Yes."

"You really want to bloody know?"

"I said yes, didn't I?"

It took Lily the couple of seconds before Alice started talking again to figure out that she'd actually made the blonde quite angry.

"Right, I'll give you the bloody transcript then shall I? Truth tell, first I was thinking of you and what an idiot you're being by wallowing in your excessive misery and refusing to see anything else. Then I thought on what a bitch Liberty Patil is for making it so that even when she's _gone_ you can't help but live in her shadow and how it all ties up into one nice pretty pink package with a ticking bomb inside that is _your_ sanity ready to blow so that you can go and join Liberty on St. Mungo's fourth floor!"

"You—"

"Oh, no backing out now, _Empress_. Wake up, would you?"

"You think that Libby deserved being tortured into insanity?" Lily hissed.

Alice stared. "You – Merlin's Beard Lily who do you think I am, Black? I'm not saying she deserved what happened to her but _come on_! Liberty was a conniving, manipulative little tart who had you wrapped around her little finger as neatly as you've got James Potter under your spell."

"How could you say that? Liberty was—"

"ARE YOU BLIND?" Alice roared. "That girl didn't give a damn about you, and if you were anywhere near as intelligent as you claim to be, you'd know! But no, instead you chose to take the easy way out, the _weak_ way out and dam up your emotions just like she would have wanted and—"

"She's not dead," Lily said quietly, voice shaking with rage. "She is not _dead,_ so stop referring to her in the past tense!"

"She may as well be! If she's anything like the kind if friend you seem to think she is, she would want you to be bloody living instead of this pathetic half-existence you've got going on right now. Hate this, snap at that, mope around, oh everyone pity the Empress!"

"I nearly died!" she shrieked.

"Damn it Lily I'm not discounting that either! But one would think you'd take advantage of your second chance and actually _live_."

Lily turned away.

"I don't have to listen to this," she said tightly.

And with that she stalked over to her bed and ripped the curtains closed.

_.:The White Truth:._

Alice swore. She'd been stupid. She _knew_ Lily wasn't ready to listen to her, especially if she was insulting the Golden Girl, but she'd let herself go anyway.

Glancing at the stubbornly closed curtains one last time, Alice made her way over to her own bed and gently pulled the drapes shut.

She picked up the letter lying on her bedside table once again.

_Dearest Alice_

_I apologise for being so long in writing, but I had to set my family's affairs in order before leaving._

_You know the Death Eaters approached my family before this attack, which I believe is a result of them declining. I fear it is not safe for me here in Britain, but I cannot inform you as to where it is that I am going in case this letter is intercepted._

_A warning though, my dear Alice. Liberty has always been interested first and foremost in her own skin and I rather suspect that four Cruciatus Curses, as the lovely Miss Evans reported, is not enough to send even my weak-brained younger sister over the edge of the abyss. Do convey my sincerest apologies to our favourite red-head, incidentally._

_Tread carefully, my love._

_Storm._

Alice loved Storm. Really. But there was this niggling little thought in the back of her brain that hated him a little for being such a coward and leaving her behind.

_.:The White Truth:._

_YOU WANT THE TRUTH? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!_

_Hey look, I wrote the entire chapter in one line _XD

_Too many italics. I can't find it in myself to care. Hopefully this version is better than the first version of Alice's rant, although the reason this chapter only took a day is because I stole copiously from Version One._

_Anyway, my V-1-ers! You know what's coming next –wink– As for my darling V-2-er, you'll have to wait until next update, and I am ashamed to say I have no idea when that is. My school year starts in two and a half weeks and updates will become almost non existent once again as I try to fix how badly I cocked up last year._


	12. A Logical Explanation

_Alright! I know it's been long, but...well, I do have my reasons, I promise. Plus this chapter is chock full of action! Enjoy!_

_.:A Logical Explanation:._

James read over his Potions essay and groaned, slumping in his chair. _I knew I shouldn't have left it this late._

"Utter shite," he muttered aloud, tossing the essay aside. "And it's a stupid topic anyway."

"Don't blame the topic for your inadequacies, Potter."

He recognised the voice instantly, heart jumping. Evans stumped down the stairs with none of her usual grace, rubbing the back of her hand across her eyes. She was clad only in a pair of men's boxers and a black singlet. James felt his mouth go dry as his oversensitive nose caught a whiff of her scent – earthy and sweet and _reeking_ of predator. She didn't help by stretching as she yawned, coming closer.

"You shouldn't have left it so late," Evans chided, grinning. Of course she'd be happy to see him struggling.

"How do you know I'm late?" he countered. "I could just be getting a head start on today's Transfiguration essay."

"Oh please. _That_ you could do in your sleep. And you've got your idiot face on, so it's obviously Potions."

James wasn't aware that his face looked any different than it usually did.

"Well, Miss Genius, what _are_ the properties of hellebore?" Maybe he could con an answer out of her.

She gave him a Look. "I'm not writing the thing for you, Potter. I don't even do that for people I _like_."

There it was, that same heart-ripping pain. He'd almost gotten used to it.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he asked suddenly.

"What's it to you?"

He shrugged. "Nothing. Everything. I'm just making conversation, Evans, don't bite my head off."

"I wouldn't do that, Potter. Your brain's taken enough damage already."

"Ha-ha," he drawled, reaching for his Potions essay again. She snatched it off the table and raised an eyebrow at the first line.

"This is awful!"

He grabbed it back. "I know _that_. If it was any good, I'd be sleeping right now. You know, like normal people?"

"Since when have I ever been normal, Potter?"

She wandered away again, dumping herself into one of the armchairs. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her commence a staring contest with the fire. He'd no doubt she'd be the winner.

James sighed and turned back to his essay. It was no use, of course, not with her there. He ended up doodling on the parchment, listening to her breathe.

He was _so_ lame.

"Did you hear us?"

He fell out of his chair in surprise, startling a genuine laugh from her. He savoured the sound even as he grumbled loudly, dragging himself back into his chair.

"Us?" he asked once he'd seated himself again.

The grin fell off her face like a simile he couldn't think of. "Alice and me," she said softly.

He rolled his eyes. "Evans, I think they heard the two of you down in Slytherin. You weren't exactly being subtle."

"Gee, way to make me feel better, Potter."

"Would you rather I lied to you?"

She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at him over the back of her armchair. "Isn't that what you do?"

Ouch. Straight to the heart, shutdown number two thousand and eighty five. He tried to glare a hole in the stupid essay. "Whatever."

"Oh, how clever!"

"Yeah, well unlike you Evans, I don't feel the overpowering need to insert witty one-liners into every sentence, alright?" Heartbreak hurts like a bitch, and there wasn't anyone around to see him take it harshly this time.

A shocked silence.

"Are you spoiling for a fight or something, Evans? Because if you are, I'm not your man."

"I'm so disappointed," she shot back, but it didn't have the same rhythm it usually did.

James didn't reply, afraid that if he tried everything he felt and nothing she cared about would come tumbling out. He knew something was wrong, could see that something was terribly off and it was almost like a physical _pain_, not being able to make it better for her.

Having failed to make that hole in the parchment, he returned to his essay.

_.:A Logical Explanation:._

Lily stared at Potter's back for a long time, shocked. She'd expected empty platitudes and exclamations of love. She'd expected to be able to tear him down like she always did so she could regain some sense of normality.

Instead, she'd gotten _this_. A tired reply and then he ignored her. Her, Lily Evans!

_I knew he was lying. I knew he didn't really like me._

If she were honest with herself, there was the tiniest tinge of disappointment there, probably some crazed remnant of the stupid little girl she'd been in the beginning of Fourth Year, before she met Libby.

_Liberty…_

The memories were battering at the walls of her minds, seeking the cracks, begging to be given a door. She shoved them aside, not in the mood to deal with her screwed up brain right then.

It didn't help. If anything, they pushed harder. She winced slightly as a sharp ache bloomed behind her right eye and spread, the effort of holding back the storm harder than she'd thought.

_You sought us,_ they seemed to whisper to her. _You sought us and we hid, and now we are ready to be seen and you don't want us?_

"Evans?"

She was clutching her head, she realised, the pain was so bad. A soft keening reached her ears – was that _her_ making that pathetic noise?

"Evans!"

In the distance a chair crashed over as Libby's face swam to the forefront of Lily's mind. Her vision was oddly layered as she looked up at the owner of the hands suddenly gripping her shoulders. There was Libby, her lips twisted into a cruel smile and behind her was dark, messy hair and a pair of terrified hazel eyes shadowed by black wire rims.

"_L-Libby?" she stuttered, staring dumbly at the bodies in front of her. "What – _what?_"_

"_I killed them." The Indian girl's usually soft and beautiful voice was harsh and unrepentant._

"_I don't…I don't understand. Are they Death Eaters? Did they attack you?"_

_Her friend laughed, and Lily relaxed a little, lowering her wand. It was Liberty's normal light, airy laugh. There was a logical explanation here. Polyjuice Potion, or maybe she'd gone momentarily colour blind and deaf and it was actually a stunner or _Impedimenta_ that Libby had fired. _

_She blinked in shock as the tip of Libby's wand lightly tapped her forehead._

"_And I thought you were meant to be the smart one. Do you remember how we called ourselves? The Smart One, the Strange One, the Strong one and the Sexy One. All of us so enamoured with the alliterative genius of it."_

"_Lib?"_

_The girl sneered, jabbing at Lily's forehead. "Don't call me that. I don't want my name dirtied by your filthy Mudblood lips."_

_Something tore in Lily's heart, but she was so much in shock that she couldn't tell what it was._

"Why?" _she breathed. "I don't understand! What's happening? Lib—"_

"_I said don't call me that!" Libby screamed, beautiful face twisting into something ugly for a split second before it smoothed out again. "I come from an unblemished line of witches and wizards, stretching back as far as the Malfoy name. My magic manifested when I was _three_. I was going to be great. Then you showed up. This – this _nobody_ Mudblood who stole _my_ limelight, everything that was meant to be mine. Tops marks every year, gorgeous, witty, every boy's wet dream you are. There was a betrothal in the works for me you know, but then James Potter announced he was in love with _you_ and his parents wouldn't hear of going against his wishes for the good of the family. You have no idea how much I would like to kill you right now, Lily Evans."_

"_No." Lily's head was shaking from side to side, bumping against Liberty's wand. "No!"_

"_Poor, pathetic Lily Evans who relies on everyone else's opinion to feel good about herself. I might have respected you a little if you'd had a spine, but you're not even _worthy_ of having everything that was going to be mine." The girl grinned and it was a crazed smile with nothing of the Libby who Lily had come to know and love. "It's my time to shine now, _Lily._ I'm to take you to the Dark Lord, and when I do he will grant me anything I wish."_

"_You're a Death Eater."_

"_Yes, Lily. Because of _you_. It's all your fault, you know. My parents are dead and it's all your fault. If you'd never existed, I'd have my everything and they'd still be alive. You just screw up everything, don't you Lily?"_

_Her body was shaking. Why was her body shaking? "Why does Voldemort want me, Liberty?"_

_The other girl shrugged elegantly. "You're pretty enough, I suppose."_

"_You're an idiot," Lily spat as rage gripped her soul. "If he wanted something pretty to tumble he's got _you._" Her wand dug into the traitor's chest. "This is about my limit!"_

"_Not everything is about you, Lily Evans!" she shrieked._

"_He doesn't want you or your power," Lily hissed, heedless of the other girl's wand at her forehead. "He wanted your influence over me, and you've gone and ruined that now. Did you ever understand what it meant when I broke my limit? If you were near exhaustion, your limit would stop you from casting any more spells. I could keep casting until I've used up my life-force."_

"_Your limit _reset_ itself!"_

"_What's to say it can't be broken again?" She waited for that to sink in, then summoned her will. She was operating on auto-pilot, unable to think about the implications of what was happening even as she spoke the words. "I name you betrayer."_

_Liberty burst out laughing. "Oh, this is fantastic. You'll go to Azkaban for using that oath Lily, and I'll be laughing when the Dark Lord drags your husk out."_

"_I name you betrayer," she repeated, ignoring her. "I name myself avenger." A wind picked up as her magic started to respond. "I will hunt you until my heart no longer beats. I will hunt you until there is no breath in my body. I will hunt you until there is no magic in my core. I will hunt you until you feel tens times over the pain you have caused me." There was a sharp jolt and Lily was thrown back, the force of her magic tearing at her clothes. The side of her head cracked against the side of the coffee table. _

_She reached up and her hand came away wet. She slammed her hand into the floor, grounding the magic and binding it with her blood. "I name you betrayer," she whispered, trying to convince herself that she wasn't crying._

"Praefoco!_"_

_The attack took her totally by surprise. She wasn't even holding her wand, having dropped it when she flew across the room._

_Liberty started to laugh as Lily clawed at her throat, trying to pull away the hands that weren't there._

"_You actually did it," she giggled. "You're oath-sworn to torture me now, you know. I wonder which one of us is more evil now? That oath is illegal for a reason."_

_Lily was thrashing now, trying desperately to draw oxygen into her lungs._

"_I guess I'll have to kill you after all. The Dark Lord didn't specify that you had to be _alive_ when you were brought to him. I'm sure he'll understand how these accidents happen. But first off…I think I'd like to mess with your brain a bit. I do hope you come back as a ghost, Lily. I'd like to know what it's like to be killed by your best friend." A wand point blank at her face. No escape. "_Obliviate!_"_

_Something snapped as Lily started to black out. Her magic whipped out around her and Liberty's face was the last thing she saw before she heard a loud _crack _and suddenly she was eating gravel._

:She's right you know. You are pathetic.:

:Who's right? What happened? Where am I? Are you in my head? Why are you in my head?:

:Oh, the _Obliviate _did get you. I think I'm embarrassed to be related to you. Well, you'll remember eventually, you're too stubborn not to. Try not to go insane when it happens.:

"_Libby!" she screamed into the night air, hands clenching in the dirt and gravel. Or, at least, she had meant to scream. Instead it came out as a kind of hoarse whisper – being strangled did that to a person._

_Her eyes stung, except she couldn't cry, because she was all cried out and there were no more tears and _where the hell was she_ and why had nobody come? Why was she all alone? Where was Libby, where was Libby, where was Libby _Libby, Libby, Libby ohgodohgodohgod.

"_I know you're there," said a calm voice. "You'd best tell me who you are and what you're doing at Ambrosius before my husband gets here."_

Smack!

Lily jerked and started to thrash against the bonds tying her to something hard. It took a few moments to realise those bonds were arms and that something was James Potter's chest.

"I'm sorry I had to slap you, but you wouldn't snap out of it," he whispered hoarsely.

Abruptly her legs collapsed under her. Potter grunted slightly at taking her sudden weight, but swung her into his arms before setting her down in an armchair.

She stared unseeingly at the fire.

"Oh, god."

_.:A Logical Explanation:._

_Well, it started off the same as the original then suddenly veered off course. But I'm happy with it, and I hope you are too._

_I'm not a fan of the Harry Potter magic. I'm sticking with the basics here, but let's just call it expanding, yeah? _


	13. Rapid Succession

_I'm back! It's back! We're all back!_

_Are you back? :has experienced a conspicuous absence of reviewers. Feilyn feels distinctly unloved.:_

_All right, quit with the pity party already. Lol, here's your chapter! I hope you enjoy._

._:Rapid Succession:._

"Evans? Are you--"

"I want your Cloak, Potter."

James blinked. "Uh…what?"

"Your Cloak, you insufferable toad, your Invisibility Cloak!"

"How did you know--" He folded his arms. "You know, Evans, calling me names isn't going to make me want to give it to you."

"I couldn't care less if you _wanted_ to give it to me, all that matters is that you _will_!"

"Tell me what in Merlin's name that fit was, and I'll consider it."

Evans' poison eyes spat fire at him. "_Give _it to me, you git!"

"Give me a reason!"

She sneered. "Don't you love me any more, Potter?"

He scowled. "You're a manipulative cow, you know that Evans?"

"So I've been told. Guess you don't love me then."

"This has nothing to do with--"

"Give me the Cloak, Potter!"

"I'm not giving it to you unless you give me a reason!"

She ripped herself out of the chair and stood, eyes blazing. "Fine! I'll find another way to get out of the castle undetected then!" She stormed towards the portrait hole.

He stared at her for a moment before leaping into action - literally, over the back of an armchair. "What? Evans, I - _what?_"

"Are you thick, Potter? No, don't tell me, I already know the answer. I'm leaving the castle. In order to do that undetected, I need your Cloak."

"_Why _are you leaving the castle?"

She swung around, hair following belatedly behind. "None of your business, Potter! That's why!"

He caught up to her and grabbed her wrist just before she slammed through the portrait hole.

"Listen. Whatever just happened, you're very obviously not in the right state of mind to do anything about it, so--"

"Potter don't think, you'll do more than yourself damage."

"So," he soldiered on. "I'm not going to let you."

She tugged on her arm. "You're not going to let me," she repeated flatly.

"No."

"You do realise that I no longer need a wand to use magic and that I could decimate you where you stand."

"You won't."

"I won't?

"No."

"And why is that?"

"Because I'm disgustingly handsome. And, because I have the Cloak on me. Decimate me, decimate the Cloak."

"Potter, you're not making sense. Not that that's a surprise. You weren't going to give me the Cloak anyway, remember?"

"Well, no. I wasn't. And I still won't. Not unless you I come with you."

"_What?_"

._:Rapid Succession:._

Liberty Patil stared numbly at the ceiling, whispering the same name over and over again.

"_EvansevansevansevansLilylilyevans--_"

One of the nurses clucked her tongue in sympathy. "Poor lass. I hear she sacrificed herself so that her friend could get away."

"_EvansevansevansevansevansLilylilyilyevans--"_

The other nurse frowned. "Really? But wasn't that Lily--"

"Hush! You know we're not allowed to speak about it."

"_EvansevansevansLilyevansevans--"_

"Oh, bollocks. Who's going to hear it to repeat it? These poor souls are all drifting in their own worlds anyway."

"Still…it's best not to take chances." A pause. "That doesn't mean we can't speak in generalities, of course."

"_LilyEvansLilyEvansLily--_"

A chuckle. "Of course. Well, _I _always thought that her friend was one of the most powerful witches of her time. What was she doing letting a poor defenceless girl like this take the attack for her?"

"_LilyEvansLilyEvansLily--_"

"Well, you know what they say about Muggleborns…they don't know what it's like, do they? Honour and suchlike things."

"Are you saying that you _agree_ with this Voldemort monster?"

"Well, he might be a bit extreme--"

"_LilyEvansLilyEvansLily--_"

_Crack!_

"_Avada Kedavra._"

The nurse stared in horror as her friend's lifeless form toppled to the ground.

"_Petrificus Totalus._"

A cloaked figure moved silently around her body as her arms snapped to her sides. That white mask would haunt her for the rest of her life.

"_LilyEvansLilyEvansLily--_"

"Now…" The voice was silky, but hollow. Devoid of emotion. "I understand that you have certain sympathies lying in my Lord's direction. Unlike your friend here, this leaves you with a choice. Blink twice if you understand this."

Terrified beyond belief, the nurse blinked twice in rapid succession.

"Good. Would you like to live?"

"_LilyEvansLilyEvansLily--_"

Two blinks.

"Would you do anything?"

Two blinks, eyes hopeful.

A regretful sigh, mocking. "Ah. See, I'm afraid the Dark Lord requires complete obedience to him, not a clinging subservience to life. _Avada Kedavra!_"

"_LilyEvansLilyEvansLily--_"

The inert body slumped sideways against the bed.

Behind the mask, Lucius Malfoy sneered.

._:Rapid Succession:._

"Get your hand off my arse before I castrate you, Potter."

._:Rapid Succession:._

"_LilyEvansLilyEvansLily--_"

"_Finite Incantatum."_

For a moment, nothing happened. Then Liberty Patil's whispering abruptly stopped, and gold eyes surveyed the room in shock.

"_Merlin!"_

"Close," Lucius corrected, pulling off his mask. "The Dark Lord has decided that you have been punished sufficiently."

The girl's exotic eyes widened in recognition before she threw her arms around his neck with a sob. "Oh, Lucius! Lucius, you wouldn't believe how awful it was, I can't believe I didn't go crazy for real! I'd rather ten _Crucio's_ than to suffer through that for so long again!"

"You received far more than ten for your failure, Liberty," Lucius reminded her, doing nothing to disengage her arms from his neck.

"_Sponge baths_, Lucius! Months and months of _sponge baths! _Oh, my hair! Tell me, do you still love me even though I'm greasy and lank and--"

_Crack!_

"Could we save the touching reunion for later, Malfoy? In case you'd forgotten, we've a job to do here."

"Oh, go sour the air somewhere else, Mulciber. And don't disrespect your elders!" A frown marred that pretty face of hers as she pulled away from him. "What are you doing out of Hogwarts anyway?"

"Mulciber was dim enough to stand in the path of Lily Evans and her companions. He attempted to choke the filthy Mudblood and ended up expelled."

The frown twisted into a mask of rage that aroused Lucius far more than his cold wife had ever been able to. "_Evans_."

"Now, Liberty, the spell has been lifted. There is no need to mumble your mantra of insanity any longer." Negligently, Lucius flipped his hand. "Mulciber, find some nurses to toy with or some such. And if you raise the alarm, I will ensure that you are punished most definitely."

Muttering obscenities under his breath, the boy slouched out of the room.

"I have a present for you," Lucius said softly.

Gold eyes sparkled at him. "_Really?_ Oh, I do love presents. Give it to me!"

"Patience, Liberty."

She smirked, kissing him harshly on the lips before nipping her way along his jaw line. "You should know by now that I'm not a patient girl, Lucius." He hissed in pleasure as she cupped his groin. "Is this it?"

He removed the hand before the situation got out of control, instead drawing out a wand from the folds of his cloak and placing it in her palm.

She stared down at it, uncharacteristically solemn. "I thought…the Dark Lord destroyed it in his rage at me?"

"Never let it be said that Lord Voldemort is not merciful."

Both Lucius and Liberty jumped at their Lord's soundless Apparition before prostrating themselves before him. Inwardly Lucius admired Liberty's athletic prowess, seeing as she had hit the ground at the same time as he, yet had jumped over him from the bed.

"Rise, my faithful servants."

Whatever grace the two had lacked in falling, they certainly made up for it in rising.

"What do you require from me, my Lord?" Liberty asked. Lucius thrust down the shudder that wanted to crawl up his spine at her submissive tone.

"The ward you succeeded in placing on Lily Evans has notified us that she has left Hogwarts. You are to be commended on that, at least."

Lucius felt a brief surge of pride on Liberty's behalf. His life had been vaguely bereft without her these past few months.

"It appears that she has remembered her vengeance oath and has come to claim one of the ten instances owed to her." There was sick humour in the Dark Lord's smile. "You are to be our bait, Liberty Patil. You have provoked the release of her limit, and for that I thank you. Now let us see what you can do to withstand it."

._:Rapid Succession:._

_Short chapter, I know, and after such a long absence I should be shot. But I have a thing for climactic endings, and I'd kept going, the ending wouldn't have been climactic! :wibbles: Please don't hurt me…_


End file.
